Grand Magic Games
by Willow-Bane
Summary: The Grand Magic Games are beginning again, but with unforeseen complications. Drama, romance, and magic. What could be better?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Summary:** The Grand Magic Games is beginning again, but with unforeseen complications. Drama, romance, and magic. What could be better?

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Toma E. Fiore's face suddenly appeared on the lacrima screen.

" _Attention, Fairy Tail. You have been selected as one of an elite few to compete in the next Grand Magic Games. This month-long festival will consist of several events. All proceeds will then be donated to Fiore for reparations from...guilds that will remain unnamed._

" _More importantly, you are one of twenty-six guilds I have personally selected as worthy to compete. But be warned. This is not the normal Grand Magic Games. I have a few rules and regulations you must abide by._

" _One, you will not be allowed to choose who competes. My database will selectively choose mages at random to compete during the games. No changes, additions, or exchanges may be made. In doing so, we shall see if you truly have the skills required to be worthy of the title 'Number One Guild in Fiore.'_

" _Two, your opponents will also be selected randomly by my database._

" _Three, the Grand Magic Games begin in one month. Be there if you have the ambition to accept this challenge._ _All those who fail to comply with these three simple rules will be eliminated immediately. I look forward to seeing you take part."_

The lacrima screen blackened.

"I guess we can count you out of the mix, flamebrain. There's no way in hell that database will pick you," said Gray.

"Bastard," Natsu growled, staring at the screen. "At least we were invited."

Natsu got up and left the guild, making his way home. "It's just like him to call me a flamebrain," he mumbled once he reached his house. He quickly went inside and changed into his pajamas. "Why do I have to like him,anyway?"

He yawned and crawled under the covers of his bed. "And I'm not a flamebrain." Natsu slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 _ **The Next Morning**_

"Great, I'm gonna be late!" exclaimed Natsu as he ran down the crowded streets of Magnolia. People were trying to get to their destination, leaving the dragon-slayer to duck and dodge in the streets. Turning a corner, Natsu bumped into something hard, which caused him to fall backward onto the ground.

"Ugh," he groaned, rubbing his elbow.

"Watch where you're going, flamebrain."

Natsu snapped his head up and glared at the dark blue eyes staring down at him. "Hey! I was watching where I was going! What're you standing in the middle of the street for?" demanded the fire mage.

Gray just stared at him. "Whatever," he said as he opened the door to the guild, closing it behind him.

Natsu picked himself up off the floor. As soon as he turned the doorknob and opened the door, Erza rounded on him. _Shit_ , he thought to himself.

"You're late," chided Erza.

"Yeah. I'm sor-"

"Just get in. We have a lot to do today."

Natsu sighed and headed toward a table, which was located near the back of the guild. Thankfully, he sat next to Lucy, so this wouldn't be too bad. Even though it was prep for the Grand Magic Games. Another plus was that he could watch Gray from where he sat.

"Hey, Natsu, what's up?" asked Lucy, looking concerned.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Gray," he ground out.

"Hm. Always Gray. You should just avoid him if he bothers you so much," replied Lucy.

Natsu just rolled his eyes.

"All right, team. Let's get started, shall we?" began Erza. "We're going to be training in preparation of the Grand Magic Games. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

The guild members she'd assembled just stared at her blankly. They couldn't figure out what was so wonderful about it. As far as they were concerned, training was pointless considering they didn't know who would compete. It wasn't even relevant!

"And all of you will be expected to participate in this training. Understood?" she said, smiling sweetly.

Everyone shrank back into their seats, trying to make themselves look as small as possible, except Gray, of course. He was too busy staring off into space.

"Now, let's see," she said, smiling sweetly again. "I'm putting all of you in pairs so that you can train appropriated. Once I've paired you off, please start training. I expect great results by the end of the week."

Erza wandered about the guild assigning parters. When she stepped in front of Gray and whispered a name to him, he flinched. _Natsu Dragneel_. His partner was Natsu Dragneel. That got his attention.

"No!" Natsu roared, bolting from his seat. "Erza, you have to change this!"

"I'm afraid I can't. It's already set in stone," she smirked. "And I think you two will do a wonderful job."

"I'm not being his partner and that's final!"

The guild grew quiet saved from some choking in the background; Gray had inhaled too quickly as he tried to grasp what was going on.

"I'm his partner?!" Gray exclaimed. "He's—!"

"Yes," interrupted Erza. "You two are perfect together. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

"No, that does not sound wonderful! I will not be his partner for this training thing!" exclaimed the furious ice mage.

"Yes, you will! You must do your part for the sake of our guild," said Erza.

"My part? I don't have to do anything of the sort!" he replied harshly.

"You will answer to me if you don't," she stated menacingly.

"Oh, yeah?!"

"Of course!" she said, smiling sweetly again.

Gray glared, his eyes seemingly boring holes into her very being. But she just wouldn't die.

"Now that that's settled, please pair up."

Knowing that Gray would never move for the likes of him, Natsu dragged himself over to the brooding ice mage. "Uh, should we get started?"

"Are you serious?"

"What?! I can't afford to get pummeled by Erza!"

Gray sneered. "It doesn't seem you can afford much of anything," he replied, looking at the state of Natsu's clothes in distaste. "And besides, you won't even win in the games, anyway."

"Yes, I will."

"Last time you lost in the Chariot match," said Gray, finally over his temper trip.

"Hey! I beat Gajeel and Sting!" snapped Natsu.

"You came in sixth place!"

"Shut up!" growled Natsu, kicking the leg of the ice mage's seat. It barely moved.

"Growling at me won't make me think you can win," said Gray, smirking.

The fire mage sighed in defeat. "Whatever," he growled again. He crossed his arms and glared at Gray.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Summary:** The Grand Magic Games is beginning again, but with unforeseen complications. Drama, romance, and magic. What could be better?

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 _ **Fairy Tail Guild (After Training Plans)**_

"So, which guilds do you think got an invitation to the Grand Magic Games?" asked Lucy.

"Sabertooth," said Levy.

"Lamia Scale," replied Jet and Droy.

"Okay. And Blue Pegasus and Mermaid Heel probably got invited, as well as Quatro Cerberus and Dullahan Head," said Lucy.

"Guild Masters are not exempt this time," announced Master Makarov.

"You can compete, too, Master?" asked a bewildered Lucy.

"I'm afraid so. You brats better watch out."

Everyone laughed at his warning.

"And we know that Orochi's Fin will be in it. So that's eight guilds out of twenty-six. I wonder who the rest are?" pondered Levy.

"I don't know, but I can't wait to find out," said Lucy. "Is something wrong, Natsu? You've been awfully quiet." Lucy looked at the dragon-slayer in concern.

Natsu shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Why do I have to train with Gray? I would have thought that Erza would have put me with someone else."

"Maybe she knows that you two draw the best out of each other," said Lucy.

"Or maybe she wants to hook you up," added Mira, laughing.

"Hahaha. As if," said Lucy.

Natsu had a light blush on his face. "Hey, guys, I need to get home now. It's getting late." The fire mage turned and walked out of the guild.

"Was it something I said?" asked Lucy.

* * *

Natsu looked up at the sky. _Great. It's starting to rain. I better hurry up and get home._

Picking up his pace, the fire mage ran the last few blocks to his house he shared with Happy, not like the Exceed was there much anymore. Pulling out his keys, he unlocked the door, stepped inside, and kicked off his shoes.

"I'm home," announced Natsu, cautiously making his way into the living room. He didn't like being here alone; this was always when his dark thoughts mustered up. Things hadn't been the same since…

 _"It's about time,"_ came a voice from around.

"This just isn't my day. It's starting already," Natsu mumbled to himself.

 _"Where have you been?"_

"I stopped by the guild." Natsu looked down at the ground. He felt a dark and malevolent force surround him. Natsu glanced warily at the dark presence before him.

 _"I thought I told you to never to go there again,"_ it said.

"I'm sorry. I forgot," replied Natsu. A flash of pain erupted within him. The dragon-slayer hunched over, only to be knocked onto the floor by a burning sensation surging throughout his body.

 _"Get up. And don't even think of running away. I'll find you. I'll always find you."_

"I understand," wheezed Natsu. Slowly picking himself up off the floor, he headed toward the kitchen. The fire mage rested his hands on the edge of the kitchen counter, clutching his stomach every now and then in pain. When would this end?

* * *

 _ **Gray's Apartment**_

"What are you doing, Gray?" asked Happy as he flew into the apartment. He was on his way back from Wendy and Charle's.

"Cooking dinner," he replied.

"Oh. Okay. Gray?"

"No."

"I didn't even ask you anything yet!"

"The answer is still no."

"Come on. Can't you just hear me out first?"

Gray stopped stirring his dinner and looked at happy. That was a big mistake. Happy pulled the teary-eyes on him. He gradually gave in.

"What do you want, Happy?"

"Can Natsu stay with you for awhile?" Happy rambled.

"You're joking, right?" Gray deadpanned.

"Not at all. He's been acting…strange lately. He hasn't been himself lately. Can you please let him stay with you?"

"And I would do this because?"

"Just think of it as your duty as a Fairy Tail member. And besides, I know you want him here," he hinted with a wink.

Gray fought back a blush. "I don't care if the flamebrain is here."

"Are you sure, Gray? Your diary says differently," responded Happy, showing the ice mage a leather-bound book.

"Where did you get that?" exclaimed Gray, charging after the Exceed, who took off into the air.

"I'm not giving it to you!"

"Yes, you are!"

* * *

 _ **Two hours later**_

An exhausted Gray collapsed on the couch in the living room. He glared at Happy, who still held onto the diary.

"Give…it…back…now," panted Gray.

"Only if you agree to let Natsu stay here," bartered Happy.

He hesitated. "Fine."

"You promise?"

"Yes. I promise. You have my word."

"Good. Here you go," said Happy as he handed over the diary.

Gray grabbed it eagerly, flipping it open to see if any damage had been done to the contents. Boy, was he in for a surprise.

"It's blank! This isn't my diary!" exclaimed Gray.

"I know," replied Happy. "But now I know that you _do_ have a diary and that _that_ diary has some _content_ in it about Natsu. And you can't back out on your word! It's not my fault you assumed this was your diary. I guess you better get started on inviting him over now, huh, Gray?"

"Stupid cat," mumbled Gray as he watched the Exceed leave the living room. "And I'll make sure to tell Mira not to give you fish for a week!" Yeah, he'd let Natsu stay. But he'd never said when.

A week without fish was a heavy price to pay for getting Natsu to live with Gray in Happy's mind. But it was well worth it. Natsu's behavior was troubling, and he strongly believed that Gray was the only one who'd be able to help him.

* * *

It was hard for everyone to believe how quickly one month could pass. Within that time, the members of Fairy Tail had trained extensively. They were ready to go.

In just a few days, the Grand Magic Games would be starting, and the twenty-six guilds that were going to compete would arrive in Magnolia for the event; they were the host city.

There was one person, however, who was a little perturbed by recent events. Gray had invited him to stay with him, the reasoning being that since they'd partnered up for training, perhaps they should stay with each other to keep one another on their toes for the Grand Magic Games.

Tomorrow was technically moving day into Gray's apartment. But Natsu wasn't very sure about that.

Natsu was sitting on his bed with a bag full of everything he owned that he deemed important—which wasn't much—in his lap. He looked guardedly at his door. How was he going to tell this…thing that he'd be away for an entire month? The fire mage knew it wouldn't respond well to the idea at all, but the question was, how far would it go to let _him_ know that?

Standing up, Natsu lifted his bag and dropped it outside his window. It landed with a thud outside. He'd fetch it later after he got away from the house. _If_ he could get away.

Now, all he had to do was talk to it.

Natsu opened the door, stepped out of his room, and anxiously searched for it. The dark presence swarmed almost immediately.

He approached it cautiously. "Hello?" he questioned softly.

The entity shot toward him. _"What?"_ it growled.

"Um…I'm going to be away for awhile. I have to attend the Grand Magic Games. If I don't, there'll be trouble," Natsu said timidly.

 _"Trouble? I don't care if there's trouble. You're not going anywhere,"_ it said.

Natsu averted his eyes. "But…it's important that I be there. Everyone will wonder where I am if I don't show up," he said, glancing back up at the dark entity.

"Are you getting smart with me?"

Natsu's eyes widened. "Not at al—!"

 _"Don't you dare talk back to me!"_ it yelled. Pain shot through Natsu, and the force of it sent him sprawling onto the floor. The dragon-slayer tried to scramble away, but there was no escaping the pain.

Natsu yelped in pain and tried to roll over, but he was too late. The dark entity intensified the pain; it felt as if he were on fire. The dragon-slayer felt himself rising in the air, only to be hurled into the table in front of the couch.

It shattered into hundreds of little splinters.

Blood trickled down the side of Natsu's face as he slid to the floor in a painful heap.

" _Do you still want to leave?"_ it growled. When Natsu still didn't move, he felt himself rising in the air again. _"I said do you still want to leave?"_

"…yes."

" _What was that?"_

"I…said…YES!" Flamed erupted around Nastu's body in a last ditch effort to protect himself. What he didn't expect was to hear it scream and flinch away from him.

" _Stop! What are you doing?!"_

Natsu tumbled to the floor, hitting his head. He laid there for a few minutes, trying to gather his wits and control his pain. He hurt everywhere. His ribs and head were killing him.

Why was his fire hurting it? That had never happened before. Why now?

"I'm leaving, so enjoy my parting gift."

Gathering up as much magical power as he could, he began incinerating his home. The place he built, the place he called home, the place he raised Happy in, would become nothing but ashes.

" _Stop!"_ it screamed. _"You think this will get rid of me? It won't! I'll find you!"_

Ashes. There was nothing but ashes now. Taking a deep breath, the fire mage picked himself up.

"Ah." Natsu winced when he put some weight on his left foot. He probably sprained it, but he could deal with that later. He slowly made his way around the incinerated remains of his house. Carefully searching through the ash, he struggled while pulling out his bag. He was surprised it had survived.

 _What do I do now?_ Natsu thought to himself. It was early evening. He couldn't move into Gray's apartment until tomorrow. And he couldn't bother Lucy. No one at the guild knew what he was going through. And he intended to keep it that way.

He'd go to Kardia Cathedral. That was normally safe. And empty.

Satisfied with his decision, Natsu gradually made his way to his safe haven.

* * *

 _ **Kardia Cathedral**_

Upon reaching the old building, Natsu went toward the public bathroom situated near the entrance. _Please let it be open_ , he thought as he shakily reached for the handle. It turned. _Yes._ Stepping inside, the fire mage headed toward one of the sinks and looked in the mirror. There wasn't much visible damage as far as he could tell. He grabbed some paper towels, wet them, and started cleaning up his face.

When that was done, he gingerly felt the side of his head. He winced. Natsu pulled his hand away and looked at it. No blood. _I got lucky. Oh, well. I can hide that with my hair. No one has to know._

Cleaning up the rest of himself, Natsu threw away the paper towels. Next, he lifted his shirt. His entire chest was starting to bruise. He gently touched his ribs, flinching at the contact. The dragon-slayer twisted his body. Well, he could still turn, even though it hurt. Maybe he didn't have any broken ribs. Maybe they were just bruised. That was good news, at least, but it was still a little hard to breathe. He was a little short on breath, too.

Natsu went into a stall. There, he opened his bag and pulled out a clean shirt and pair of pants. His current clothing had a few bloodstains on them. Changing out of his ruined clothes, the fire mage came out of the stall and shoved the clothes into the garbage can in the bathroom. Setting his scarf securely around his neck, he retrieved his bag and left.

 _Now. Where to go?_ Natsu thought to himself. There was a secluded spot in the cathedral he'd go to every once in a while, especially after a particularly rough time with the dark entity. Deciding on that destination, Natsu made his way to a secluded corner near the end of the building. It was out of view from the main part of the cathedral. He wouldn't be disturbed here.

Putting his bag on a pew, Natsu carefully lowered himself to the pew and laid his head back on his bag. Making himself as comfortable as he possibly could, the fire mage sighed and looked up.

It was dark already and the stars were starting to come out; he could see them through the window.

 _I can never let them know. Never._

He watched the stars twinkling for a bit before getting drowsy.

 _I guess I should get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day. I…can't…wait…_

Natsu's thoughts faded as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 _ **Kardia Cathedral (Morning)**_

Sunlight sparkled through the windows while a shadow danced across Natsu's sleeping face in the newly risen sun. A small bird landed on a branch outside. Fluttering its wings, the bird knocked the branch against the window.

The sound made Natsu open his eyes.

 _Morning already?_

Natsu yawned and stretched. He inhaled quickly when he felt a sharp pain shoot across his chest.

 _What the-oh, yeah. That's right._ He'd almost forgotten about the previous night's injuries inflicted on himself.

 _It's still pretty early. Hn. Maybe I should start heading to Gray's now. In my current condition, I don't know how long it'll take me to get there._

He sat up from his resting place and carefully stretched this time. Standing up, he reached for his bag and headed toward the cathedral's entrance. Before he left, however, he made a quick trip to the bathroom and checked himself for any visible injuries. Seeing none, Natsu left the bathroom and headed for Gray's apartment.

* * *

 _ **Gray's Apartment**_

"I made it," Natsu said aloud, smiling since the pain in his chest was slowly starting to subside. _It's still pretty early._

The fire mage walked toward the mahogany door of Gray's apartment. Hesitantly, he knocked on the door and waited. He shifted his bag from hand to hand nervously.

Suddenly, the door opened, only to reveal a bewildered Gray.

"You're here awfully early," stated the ice mage. "Aren't you normally late for everything?"

"Look, are you going to let me in or critique me on my timeliness?" responded Natsu with a glare.

"Watch it, flamebrain. You'd better be glad I'm letting you stay."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Whatever," said Gray, stepping off to the side to let Natsu into the apartment. He glanced at the fire mage's bag. "Is that all you have? You're staying here for a month, you know."

Natsu looked uncomfortable. "I know. So, where am I staying exactly? And don't you dare show me a closet!" He plastered a grin on his face.

Gray looked at the dragon-slayer suspiciously and started walking toward the hallway. "Follow me."

"Natsu!"

Both Natsu and Gray turned at the shout. Happy came flying from out of nowhere and launched himself at the stunned fire mage. He dropped his bag in order to prevent Happy from knocking them both over. The Exceed hugged him tightly while Natsu tried to stifle a whimper of pain, but hugged him back nonetheless.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages," said Happy, releasing Natsu from his tight hug.

"That's because you're always with Charle," replied Natsu, laughing. All he wanted was for Happy to be…well, happy.

"I'm glad you're here! Let me help you with that!" exclaimed the Exceed, grabbing Natsu's bag before the fire mage could reach it. Happy looked puzzled.

"This is really light. Are you sure you packed for a month?" questioned Happy. "I thought you'd pack up the whole house."

"I asked him the same thing," said Gray.

 _Oh, great. Not again. How do I get out of this one?_ Natsu thought. He looked around. "Whoa! That is so cool!" he said as he headed toward a large vase on the coffee table. "Where on earth did you get that?"

It was a porcelain vase with an intricate snowflake pattern. Gray smirked at Natsu's awe.

"It was a reward from a mission for a job well done," replied Gray. Natsu glared at him.

"I'll show you to your room. I've been helping Gray set up for you," interrupted Happy. "Come on, Natsu," he said, tugging on Natsu's arm. Leading him down the hall, Happy said, "Gray's room is the first door on the left and yours is the first door on the right." He then walked up to Natsu's intended room and opened the door. "Here you go. This is where you'll live for the next month."

Natsu stepped into the room decorated in black and red. He stared. A queen-sized bed with red satin sheets and black comforter rested beneath a large window overlooking the city of Magnolia. A dresser sat next to the bed as well as a desk and chair on the far side of the room. It was perfect.

"This is awesome," said Natsu breathlessly.

"Have you eaten yet? If not, you can come with me to the kitchen and get yourself something to eat. Just leave your stuff here. You can unpack later," Gray said.

"All right." Natsu hadn't really eaten much in the past couple days. The…entity's orders. And his new injury wouldn't help much, either. "Let's go." Natsu dropped his bag on the bed and followed Gray and Happy out of the room and toward the kitchen.

"What do you want? We have just about everything. Happy made sure of that," said Gray.

"Oh. Um…some scrambled eggs would be fine, if that's all right?" answered Natsu hesitantly.

"Sure! Scrambled eggs coming right up!" With that, Happy left to cook the eggs.

"Scrambled eggs? You have everything at your disposal and you ask for scrambled eggs?" questioned Gray, raising an eyebrow. "I expected you to have a seven course meal for breakfast."

"What? I like scrambled eggs, okay?" It was the only thing he felt his body could handle right now.

A few minutes passed before Happy returned with a plate of scrambled eggs.

"Enjoy!" he said.

"Thanks." Lifting a forkful to his face, he cleaned off the fork and swallowed. It hurt a bit to do so because of the pain in his chest, but he masked the ache as best as he could.

"How is it?" asked Happy. "Charle and Wendy have been teaching me to cook things."

"Great."

"Aye! Well, I'm going to head to Wendy and Charle's for awhile, okay? Bye!" said happy as he hurried off.

Gray and Natsu sat in silence, minus the clanking of Natsu's fork. A few painful swallows later, Natsu couldn't handle any more. He'd barely eaten half a plate.

"What do I do with this?" Natsu asked.

"Just leave it there. I'll deal with it," said Gray. He glanced at the dragon-slayer's plate then narrowed his eyes inquisitively. "You didn't eat much," he said, looking up at natsu.

"I guess I wasn't really that hungry," he said hurriedly. "I'm gonna go unpack my things now." Natsu got up and left, leaving Gray alone and wondering what would make the flamebrain lose his appetite.

* * *

 _ **Sometime Later**_

Happy burst into Natsu's room. "Do you have anything to wear for the party tonight?" he exclaimed. "Natsu?" he asked worriedly. The fire mage was lying down on his bed struggling to catch his breath and he looked like he was having a nightmare. A really bad one. "Natsu?" Happy asked again, but this time, he shook his shoulder when he did.

Natsu gasped and shot up in the bed trying to breathe.

"Natsu? Are you all right?" Happy asked quietly.

The fire mage jumped and looked in the direction the voice came from. He smiled when he saw Happy. "I'm fine."

"It looked like you were having a nightmare. What was it about?"

"I can't remember. It's no big deal," he replied, shaking his head. _I'm not even safe in my own dreams._

"If you're sure…" Happy trailed off, not quite believing him.

"I'm sure. Is there something you wanted?"

"Um…yeah. I wanted to ask if you had anything to wear to Grand Magic Games party tonight."

Natsu looked at him blankly for a moment. "What party?"

Happy looked mad. "Did you even pay attention to what Erza said? Tonight we're having a Grand Magic Games party, seeing as how the event starts tomorrow. It will give everyone a chance to meet and catch up before it begins."

"Oh. Well, I don't exactly have anything appropriate for a party, especially a formal one," Natsu said quietly.

"Good!"

"Huh?"

"That means I get to take you shopping. It's make-over time!" Happy cried while shooting his paw up in the air, an insane and virtually psychotic expression on his face. He could give Erza obsessing over her strawberry cake a run for the money with that look.

"What do yyoua mean make-over time?" Natsu looked worried.

"I am going to take you out shopping and you'll be set up with a make-over. You'll be the belle of the ball! Don't worry. I won't make you wear a dress," Happy snickered.

"But—!"

"It's okay, really! The guild's paying for it anyway."

Natsu sighed and reluctantly accepted Happy's offer of help. "Fine."

The fire mage hopped off the bed and left the room, Happy trailing behind. His thoughts drifted back to the nightmare Natsu'd been having. There was something the dragon-slayer wasn't saying, and he wanted to know what it was.

They finally reached the front door.

"Are you all right, Happy?" The small Exceed was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of Gray's voice.

"Uh…sure…"

"Happy," Gray said sternly.

"I'm just worried about Natsu," he replied as he started to walk off toward the front door as well.

"Why?" Gray asked sharply.

Happy stopped and turned to look at the ice mage. "I think something's wrong with Natsu. And he won't say what it is. He's hiding something, Gray."

"Hn. I'll look into it later."

Satisfied with that response, Happy smiled and ran to where Natsu was waiting. "We'll be back in time for the party! We're going shopping!"

* * *

 _ **Salon**_

"No!" shouted Natsu.

"But Natsu…" tried Happy.

"No! You are _not_ touching my hair!"

Happy and the hairstylist looked at each other and then back at Natsu. Happy decided to pull out the teary-eyes.

"But, Natsu. I went through all this trouble to make sure you wouldn't feel out of place at the party and this is how you treat me?" he whined, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes. Talk about a guilt trip.

"Happy…all right," Natsu gave in.

"Yeah!" Happy gave the hairstylist a high-five and his so-called tears magically disappeared.

"Let's get started shall we?" said the hairstylist.

Natsu whimpered.

"After this, we'll get you some clothes," Happy smirked.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 _ **Fairy Tail Guild – Grand Magic Games Party**_

"Wow! I think everyone we know is here!" exclaimed Lucy, clutching Levy's arm in excitement.

"Oh! There's Ichiya and the Trimens," said Max.

"And Kagura? Yukino?" questioned Erza.

"Wait. Where did Master go?" asked Lucy.

"Um…he's kind of talking to…or, well, arguing with Master Bob," said Levy.

"Oh, my! Is that Sting and Rogue?" exclaimed Mira.

"It sure is. And look with whom they're speaking," stated Freed.

"Bacchus and Lyon!" shouted Mira.

"Hey. Isn't that Orga over there? It looks like he's talking to…Laxus!" said Lucy.

"I guess everyone is here. Oh, hey Lisanna," said Lucy.

"Well, everyone except for Natsu, that is," replied Erza, looking around in hopes of spotting their pink-haired friend.

"Yeah. Where is Natsu?" asked Lucy.

"And Happy," grumbled Gray as he walked over to Lucy and the others. He'd be damned if his secret got out. He'd strangle that cat if it did.

"Happy's missing, too?" asked Lisanna.

"The two of them went shopping," Gray grumbled again.

"Why?" asked Erza.

"I have no idea," Gray replied.

"Hi, everyone!"

The group turned in the direction of the voice. There stood a grinning Happy.

"Hey, isn't Natsu supposed to with you?" asked Lucy, looking around for the fire mage.

"Oh, he's here," said Happy slyly. No one really liked the expression on his face.

"Well…then where is he?" questioned Lisanna.

Happy turned and called out, "You can come out now, Natsu!" Everyone looked in the same direction he did and gaped as Natsu entered.

"He looks…" Lucy began.

"So…" Lisanna continued.

"Hot!" finished Sting, joining the group. His eyes roamed up and down Natsu's body. "Yukino's all yours, Rogue." Sting couldn't take his eyes off the fire mage.

Natsu hadn't made eye contact yet, but he was as Sting said. Hot. He wore black dress pants that showed off his curves, black dress shoes, and a silk, red dress shirt that hugged the contours of his upper body, and no scarf. His hair had been trimmed and tamed; it rested flat, but had been layered and feathered out on the sides. Bangs hid his eyes. He slowly made his way up to his friends, keeping his eyes on the floor. Ever so cautiously, he raised his head and looked at them.

Lisanna and Lucy were both drooling at their new piece of eye candy, Sting started thinking of naughty things, and Gray…well…Gray was so shocked at Natsu's appearance that he walked into a server, knocked him over, and sent drinks flying in every direction.

Sting pounced in front of Natsu. He pulled Natsu's hands to his chest. "You wouldn't mind being my date, would you?" Sting looked like he was going to drool more than Lisanna and Lucy combined.

Natsu recoiled at his touch. "Hell no!" The fire mage pulled his hands out of Sting's grasp, only for them to be grabbed by a drooling Lisana. "But you'll be my date, right?" she asked.

"I'm not gonna be your date, either," he said firmly, trying not to show that he was getting really freaked out by their behavior.

"Why?" exclaimed Lisanna.

"Because he's mine," said a deep voice from behind Natsu. He turned and came face to face with a chest. Looking up, his eyes met Gray's.

Smirking down at him, Gray said, "You clean up nice." Before Natsu had a chance to respond, the ice mage yanked him away from their friends and toward the far side of the guild.

"That was strange," said Rogue.

"Yeah! Why would he choose Gray over me?" exclaimed Sting.

"Since when are you gay?" responded Lucy.

"Since Natsu walked in a minute ago," he replied.

"Sting, shut up," sighed Rogue, popping Sting in the back of the head.

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" questioned Natsu as Gray continued to drag him. The fire mage squirmed, but Gray didn't stop until they reached a door. He turned the handle and led Natsu outside. Closing the door behind him, he locked it so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

"What are you doing?" asked Natsu, confused by Gray's behavior.

The ice mage stared at him for a bit before saying, "I just wanted to say that you look nice."

 _Did Gray just compliment me?_

"And," Gray began, "you have really…beautiful eyes."

 _Well, that came out of nowhere._ "Gray? Are…you drunk?" Natsu just had to be sure this wasn't some game.

"No! Of course I'm not drunk!" Gray snapped.

"Okay. I'm just making sure," he said quietly. Natsu looked down at his feet and wrung his hands. "Why did you bring me out here?"

Gray smirked. "It looked like you needed saving."

"Ha…thank you, Gray." _Are we really having a civil conversation?_ Natsu wondered.

"But there is something I wanted to speak with you about. Two things, now, actually," Gray stated.

"Oh? What's that?"

"Happy thinks you're hiding something." He might as well cut to the chase. There was no point in beating around the bush.

"I'm not hiding anything," Natsu responded, trying to look innocent.

Gray closed the distance between them in a few strides. "Then why is he so worried about you?" He waited for Natsu to answer. When none came, he said, "Tell me."

Natsu groaned. "Happy came into my room and he said he saw me having a nightmare. He woke me up, and I guess I startled him. He asked me what my nightmare was about, but I couldn't remember anything." _Well, at least it's close to the truth. Hopefully he won't look into it too much._

But Gray seemed like he _was_ looking for something, particularly in Natsu's eyes.

"What was the other thing?" Natsu asked warily.

Gray stared at him a bit more before saying, "I heard a rumor about an intense fire in the woods. You wouldn't know anything about that…would you?"

Natsu looked uncomfortable, and Gray picked up on that. _What do I do? I don't want to tell him. What will he think of me then?_

"I'm waiting," continued the ice mage, looking at Natsu in concern.

The dragon-slayer noticed the emotion swirling in his dark blue eyes and cracked. _Maybe he does care, but I have to be sure._ "First, I have to know. Do you care? Do you _really_ care?" he asked. Gray's expression softened.

"Yes," he replied quietly. Natsu looked away and took a few steps to distance himself from the ice mage. He gazed up at the stars and soon felt Gray come up behind him. The ice mage placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly. "Tell me," he said softly.

Natsu took a deep breath. He'd never told anyone this before. What was it about Gray that made him want to reveal every little thing in his life? Maybe he felt that by telling Gray, everything would just go away. He could make it better.

"Something is…following me…hurting me," Natsu said emotionlessly. Gray was stunned by his tone.

"What?"

"It wants me to do as it says. When I don't, it hurts me."

This conversation was getting nowhere, but instead of acting harshly, Gray decided to let the fire mage take his time. "Who's _it_?"

"I call it the dark entity," he said releasing his breath. A few tears followed. "Something latched onto me after the first Grand Magic Games we participated in. It followed me, got into my head…hurt me." Natsu turned to look at the ice mage. "It wasn't going to let me leave to come stay with you. So I burned it. I could never hurt it before. I burned it. Everything. I destroyed my own home to get away from it. But it says it'll come back to me. It always finds me." Natsu's voice trailed off and he started to cry. _Why am I telling you this? You're just gonna-_

Natsu suddenly felt himself pulled into a hug. Was Gray…hugging him? The fire mage looked up, but the ice mage's gaze focused over the city. He then turned his face into Gray's chest and relaxed. After a few moments of silence, Gray let go.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Gray asked hopelessly.

Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. It made me feel powerless. It was always in my thoughts. Whenever I thought of telling someone, it would only hurt me more."

"What do you mean by…hurt you?"

"I-I don't know if it was magic or a curse, but it could make my body feel nothing but pain. It's just pain. No physical contact, just…pain. But it leaves marks."

"Natsu…"

"I don't feel its presence now. I…think that's why I can tell you. But don't tell anyone else! I don't know what'll happen if it knows others know!"

"All right, I won't," Gray said, trying to calm the fire mage.

"Do…Do you mind if I go back in now?"

"Go ahead," Gray replied. He turned and looked out over the city and heard Natsu leave. He still had a lot more questions, like what this dark entity actually was, but if it was gone for now, he'd save it for another time. In all actuality, he hadn't expected Natsu to reveal that much information to him. To know that Natsu would trust him with something like this made him feel…special. "You are full of surprises, aren't you? What else are you hiding, I wonder?"

* * *

Natsu had left Gray and quickly made his way to his friends, only to be confronted by Happy.

"Someone said there was a fire in the forest," said Happy.

"I…know," said Natsu.

"Our…house is gone?"

The dragon-slayer nodded.

"What happened?"

"Not here."

Happy led Natsu out of the main part of the guild and into the guild's kitchen. He looked at Natsu and waited.

"The house is gone," said Natsu.

" _How?_ " Happy was momentarily stunned. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. "How, Natsu?" the Exceed's voice repeated.

"Um, I burned it down," said Natsu worriedly. He didn't know what else to say.

"Why would you do that?" Happy demanded.

"I-I had to d-do it, Happy."

"Natsu, that was our home! You raised me there! Why would you burn our house down?!"

"Happy, stop!" exclaimed Natsu. They were silent for awhile. "I..can't…explain why right now, but…it was for the best." And then Natsu began to cry, loud and hard.

"What?" Happy asked quietly. Natsu visibly paled, and Happy was starting to freak out because of it.

Happy tried to console him, tears starting to run down his own face. "Shh…please calm down, Natsu. We'll figure this out. Please, stop crying. Why can't you tell why you burned it down?" He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"I can't. Not now," he said quietly.

"Fine," Happy said hesitantly.

Natsu's legs gave out and he landed on the floor, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, Happy!" Natsu tried to get his crying under control. Happy cautiously walked up to Natsu and sat next to him. He didn't know what was going on, so he just soothingly rubbed the fire mage's back until he could get his heartbreaking sobs under control.

Natsu took a deep breath. "I'll explain everything if and when I can. But right now, I can't," Natsu said.

"Okay, Natsu. I understand."

Natsu wasn't sure how he felt. This was just too much. Too much all at once. Everything that'd happened to him during the past month finally caught up with him. Happy was too shocked to do anything when he saw Natsu fall over on the floor in a dead faint.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

"Gray!" Happy darted out of the kitchen and entered the main part of the guild shouting for the ice mage. "Gray!" he cried out again. Suddenly, he ran into someone, and that someone was Lucy.

"What's wrong, Happy?" asked Lucy.

"Where's Gray? Gray!" he called out again. "Gray!"

"Happy! I'm right here. Wha—?"

"Hurry!" Happy said, trying to drag the ice mage by the arm.

"Hold on! What's so urgent?"

Happy turned back to him looking absolutely terrified. "It's Natsu! Hurry!" he exclaimed, pulling Gray again. That got everyone's attention.

"What happened to Natsu? Where is he?" asked a now startled Lucy.

"This way!" called out Happy as he flew away, Gray, Lucy, and Erza closely following him.

"In here," Happy said when they reached the kitchen.

Gray's heart slammed to the front of his chest when he saw Natsu sprawled out on the floor looking deathly pale. "What happened, Happy?" he asked urgently as he rushed toward the fire mage, eagerly searching for a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Natsu was breathing.

But he also discovered that the flamebrain had a slight fever. Gray turned, seeing a pale Lucy, a concerned Erza, and an upset Happy. "He's fine. He's breathing, but he has a slight fever. Other than that, I think he's okay."

Lucy and Erza relaxed, but Happy didn't. Instead, he said, "No, he isn't! You weren't here! He's not okay!" Happy looked hysterical.

Gray looked down at Natsu and then back at Happy. "What do you mean?" he inquired.

"I was asking about our house. He said he burned it down, that he had to. And then he started to cry a bit. Then I tried to comfort him, and he broke down, and I don't know what is going on. H juste passed out. I think it might have been due to happened at our house, Gray," Happy said in a rush, albeit quietly.

Gray groaned and turned back to Natsu. Picking him up bridal-style, the ice mage carried him out of the living room. "Erza, Lucy. Go back to the party and say that the flamebrain isn't feeling well. Don't worry everyone. I'll send Happy to let you know what's going on later. Come on, Happy." Erza and Lucy turned and headed toward the party while Happy followed Gray.

They left the guild and headed straight for Gray's apartment. Once they reached it, they walked into Gray's bedroom. The ice mage gently laid Natsu on his bed and tried to wake him up. "Come on, flamebrain. Wake up," he said, tapping Natsu on the face. The dragon-slayer moaned and slowly opened his eyes.

"Where am I?" he asked groggily.

"My bedroom," answered Gray.

Natsu's eyes widened. "Your bedroom? How did I get here?" he started, quickly sitting up and nearly butting heads with Gray. That was a mistake. Natsu started to feel dizzy.

"Easy there, flamebrain."

"Natsu, are you okay?" Happy asked quietly. The fire mage let the words sink in. Now, he remembered. And then he began to cry.

Gray, shocked by him crying for the second time that night wasn't sure about what he should do, so he gently put his hand on Natsu's back and started to rub him in hopes to comfort the sobbing fire mage. That, in turn, only made Natsu cry even harder. Sighing, Gray sat fully on the bed and inched closer to him, tenderly pulling him into his lap.

The dragon-slayer latched onto him and cried uncontrollably. It sounded as if he were pouring out his heart and soul with his sobs. All Gray and Happy could do was watch, giving what comfort they could until he was done.

As Natsu settled down in Gray's arms, Happy asked, "What happened?"

After a few moments of silence, Natsu finally responded, albeit softly. "Something wants me dead."

Both Gray and Happy's eyes widened, and the ice mage tightened his grip on Natsu."What wants you dead?" asked Gray.

"I don't know. I just…keep getting this feeling that I'm not supposed to be here anymore," Natsu said as he started to cry softly again.

"Is…that why you burned down our house?" asked Happy timidly.

"Part of it," Natsu cried. "But I've only stopped it temporarily…I think."

Gray rocked him. It hurt knowing that Natsu was going through so much emotional pain in one night. "I'm sorry, but can you explain this a little more?" he asked gently.

Natsu sniffed. "That…I don't think I'm supposed to be alive. I'm not supposed to be alive." He turned his face into Gray's chest.

"What do you mean?" exclaimed Happy.

Natsu turned his head in the Exceed's direction looking sorrowful. Perhaps he really did need to tell him the truth. "A dark entity has been haunting my life, controlling my thoughts, even in my sleep. You're not…around much anymore, so you probably haven't noticed until now," he said softly.

"You never mentioned anything before," stated Happy.

"I didn't want to drag you into it," he said.

Happy tried to lighten the mood by saying, "Well, you have me and Gray with you now, right?" Happy sounded hopeful. "We can tackle anything together!"

"I wish it was as simple as that." Natsu started crying again, gradually growing more and more hysterical. "It wouldn't let me out of the house the day before I came here. And it started hurting me. So much! But then I realized how much I wanted to leave and come here. I used my magic. I-I hurt it this time. So I incinerated the house to get away. But it'll come back and find me," he said hopelessly.

Happy looked at Gray, who nodded in return. "Then the three of us will just have to stay here and survive this together," said Gray.

Natsu jerked his head up and looked Gray in the eyes. "What?"

"We'll help you," Gray said.

"Why wou—?"

"That's what teammates are for, right?"

Natsu nodded slowly, unsure of what to think about Gray's sudden kindness toward him. _Why does he suddenly care?_

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine," said Gray soothingly, gently rocking Natsu back and forth again. The tender swaying left Natsu drowsy, and he gradually fell asleep in Gray's arms with a small smile on his face. Cautiously lifting Natsu, the ice mage motioned for Happy to pull back the covers on his bed. After doing so, Gray laid him down, pulled his shoes off, and pulled the covers over him. He headed for the door and beckoned for Happy to follow. They left the room, and Gray lightly closed the door.

"I don't want you telling anyone what Natsu just told us. That's his story to tell," said Gray.

Happy still felt a little shocked. "I won't. I just can't believe it. Why would something like this happen to Natsu? And how?"

"I don't know, Happy." _It makes me wonder what else he hasn't said. But I'll just have to wait until he's ready to tell me._ Gray hugged Happy firmly. "Go back to the guild and tell Erza and Lucy that he's all right and then get some sleep."

"Okay, Gray," replied Happy. He watched as the ice mage opened the door to his room and went back inside, shutting the door behind him.

Happy headed down the stairs, thinking about what Gray had said. A smile lit up his face when he realized the ice mage called 'the flamebrain' by his first name.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 _ **Gray's Bedroom (Morning)**_

Natsu sighed and snuggled deeper into the comforting presence beside him, which, in turn, sighed back. He froze. Cautiously opening his eyes, Natsu glanced at the thing next to him. It wore a shirt, had its arms wrapped around his waist, and looked at him with gentle blue eyes. Gentle?

"Gray?" Natsu whispered, confused as to how they got into this state. He was still quite groggy. He checked himself; he was still fully clothed, so that was a good thing. Natsu looked back up at Gray.

"What ar-" Natsu was cut off by Gray taking his hand and feeling his forehead.

"Your fever's gone. Do you remember what happened yesterday?" he asked quietly.

Natsu thought for a minute. He'd moved into Gray's apartment, went shopping with Happy, attended the party, and told Gray about…the entity! Natsu shot up in bed. "What did I say last night?" he asked urgently.

Gray growled. He'd been enjoying having the flamebrain so close to him. "You told me everything. From burning your house down to the dark entity."

Natsu was shocked. Did he really tell Gray that much? Why did he do that? Wait…didn't Gray also say that he would help him? What if he changed his mind? Natsu panicked. He watched as Gray got up from the bed and headed toward the bathroom.

"Wait!" Natsu exclaimed, reaching for Gray's wrist. The ice mage turned to look at him.

"What is it, Natsu?" Gray asked, rare concern showing on his features.

The dragon-slayer was a little taken aback. "You called me Natsu."

"That is your name, isn't it?" he snapped. "What is it you wanted?"

Natsu released Gray's wrist as if burned due to the harsh tone the ice mage now used. He scrambled from the bed and made his way to the door, muttering an apology. Before he could open the door, a pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. Natsu flinched.

"Hey, look at me," urged Gray. "I'm sorry. I'm not much of a morning person."

Natsu relaxed a little and gave a small smile. "That _is_ a surprise. I expected you to be the type of person to be up at the crack of dawn. You're grumpy because you haven't had your first bowl of ice cream, huh?"

Gray gave a slight chuckle, much to Natsu's surprise. "I suppose you're right. Did you want to ask me something?" he inquired, looking concerned again.

Natsu's face became serious. He dropped his gaze to the floor. "Did…you mean what you said before?" He looked back up at Gray. "About helping me?" Natsu's eyes regarded him timidly.

Gray stared at him. Trying to show him how sincere he was, he said, "I meant every word. I will help you. So will Happy. And you can stay here as long as you need."

"Okay."

"Good. Now why don't you go to your room, take a shower and change, and then meet me downstairs for breakfast."

Natsu nodded and headed for the door again. Before he left, he turned back. "Gray? Thanks."

When Natsu finally left, a blush erupted on Gray's face. Being thanked by Natsu made him feel all…warm and tingly inside. He wasn't sure how he _really_ felt about that. Maybe it was heartburn. And why did he make such an offer? Gray wasn't sure if he was making a big mistake or not, but all he could do was wait and see how it all turned out.

* * *

Natsu felt refreshed and rejuvenated after his shower. His chest didn't hurt as much anymore and he couldn't believe Gray was being so nice to him. Considering last night's revelations, everything seemed to be going well, especially with Gray. Maybe it was possible that the ice mage liked him. He had to care just a little in order to provide the offer he did. Smiling at the thought, Natsu walked toward the kitchen, only to be confronted by a pissed off looking Gray. The smile he had on his face disappeared immediately.

"What's wrong?" Natsu asked hesitantly, hoping the ice mage wouldn't take his anger out on him.

"Happy ate my ice cream," Gray ground out through clenched teeth.

"Happy ate your ice cream?" Natsu repeated slowly. "And?"

"There's none left. What the hell am I supposed to eat now?" he roared. Gray looked ready to explode. Like he could blow up the apartment complex with his anger, explode.

Natsu looked at Gray apprehensively when a thought struck him. Maybe he could pay Gray back for his sudden kindness after all. "You have other food, right?" he asked.

Gray regarded him suspiciously. "Yes."

Natsu laughed. "I'll cook breakfast then. You can help me if you want." _This'll give me a chance to calm down before I do something I…shouldn't._

Gray stared at him blankly. "You can cook?" he said disbelievingly. Natsu laughed again.

"Yep! Come on. Let's go to the kitchen." Natsu headed off in the direction of the kitchen, Gray trailing behind.

When Natsu entered it, his jaw practically dropped to the floor. He felt like he'd just walked into his dream kitchen. Who knew what kinds of delicious food this place was stocked with?

"Are you going to get you jaw off my floor?" questioned Gray, smirking at the dragon-slayer's reaction to the kitchen. Natsu closed his mouth. "So, what do you plan on making?"

Natsu rummaged through some of the cupboards, constructing a plan in his head. "Well, I can make a few oat cakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and a fruit platter. We can set it all up buffet style on the kitchen room table and we can just serve ourselves." He started pulling out the ingredients he needed to make the oat cakes. "Can you pull some sausages out of the freezer and thaw them out some? I'll fry it up in a bit."

"Sure," Gray said, a little stunned that he was actually _following_ orders for once. He went to the freezer and pulled out some sausages and ran them under warm water from the sink until they started to thaw. Gray felt a bit foolish at doing something so domestic with Natsu.

They worked in silence for a bit until Gray finally spoke up. "I didn't take you for the kind of person who liked to cook."

"I love cooking," Natsu said, checking on the oats. They were ready.

Natsu glanced at Gray, who stared at him dumbfounded. "You seem to be pretty good at this."

"Just wait until you taste it," Natsu said huskily, smiling at Gray. The ice mage fought back a blush, but his pale cheeks had a light pink tinge to them. Dropping his gaze, Gray hurriedly got back to cutting up fruit.

"Shit!" exclaimed Gray. Natsu jumped. He watched as Gray jerked his left hand away from the knife and brought his bleeding finger to his lips, sucking the blood away. Natsu quickly walked over to the ice mage, grabbed his other, uninjured hand and pulled him over to the sink. Gray let him.

"Take your finger out of your mouth and let me see," Natsu scolded. "You need to be more careful in the kitchen. It's not deep." He started to caress Gray's hand as he turned on the faucet to clean the wound and then turned it off. "Where's your first aid kit?" asked Natsu.

"Under the sink," started Gray. He wasn't sure how to take Natsu's behavior at the moment. The dragon-slayer opened the cabinet beneath the sink and pulled out the first aid kit. He rummaged through it until he found some peroxide.

"This might sting a bit," Gray said, pouring a little bit of the peroxide on Gray's finger. He cringed when Gray hissed and tried to pull his hand away. "I'm sorry," said Natsu, pulling Gray's hand back toward him. He lightly blew on Gray's finger, hoping to take away the stinging. "Better?" Natsu asked, turning his eyes up toward Gray. The ice mage did not want to let Natsu see him blush, so he did the only thing he knew how.

He yanked his hand away, exclaiming, "I'm not a baby! So stop acting like a worried mother!" Gray regretted those words almost as soon as he said them when he saw the hurt expression on Natsu's face. "Sorry," said the ice mage, hoping to be forgiven.

"Let me bandage it and then I'll leave you alone," Natsu said coldly. Mentally, Gray was beating himself up. He just hurt Natsu's feelings. He was only trying to help him and then he had to go and act like a jerk. Gray did not feel happy with himself right now.

Natsu bandaged Gray's finger. He looked so concerned. The ice mage couldn't resist saying what came next, "Are you going to kiss it to make it better, too?" He smirked. "Ow!" Natsu had squeezed and twisted Gray's poor finger, leaving him with a pained and shocked expression on his face. "What was that for?"

"It serves you right for being such a jerk!" responded Natsu. Gray supposed he deserved that one. "Now go sit down before you hurt yourself again. I'll do everything else. Stupid ice bastard can take out a dark guild, but gets done in by a kitchen knife," he murmured.

"Touché," mumbled Gray, thinking he wouldn't be heard as he stepped out of Natsu's way. He was. The dragon-slayer walked back over to Gray.

"We wouldn't want you to lop off any fingers before you participate in the games now, would we?" Natsu looked at Gray…playfully? The ice mage smiled in return and leaned toward Natsu, their faces only a few inches apart.

"No. Don't worry. I'll stay away from all sharp objects, thank you. Including that tongue of yours." Gray blushed when he realized how that sounded, but stood—sat—firm. Natsu must have caught onto the implication, also, because he blushed as well. Gray leaned forward just a little bit more, their noses almost touching. They could just barely feel each other's heartbeats; they were so close. Gray moved in some more and Natsu inhaled sharply. He could feel Gray's warm breath on his lips and it felt…

Gathering up his courage, Gray moved in, eyes closed, so that his lips would come in contact with Natsu's soft, pink ones. But there was nothing there. Opening his eyes, he saw Natsu spin around and gather ingredients for the oat cakes' topping. _Why did he move away?_ He was not pleased with that at all, but, perhaps, Natsu had his reasons. He noticed that the dragon-slayer looked extremely uncomfortable…and red.

Gray cleared his throat, hoping to change the vibe he'd created.

Natsu started to cream together the ingredients for the topping. When he was done, he put it off to the side and went over to Gray's fruit station. He finished cutting up the fruit and opted to setting it on a platter. When he was done, he covered them with plastic wrap. By then the oat cakes were just about finished. At the sound of the oven's _ping_ , Natsu went to fetch the oven mitts he saw hanging on one of the cabinet doors. Opening the oven, the dragon-slayer pulled all four pans out and set them on the counter.

Gray couldn't help but gawk at him. Normally, Natsu was clumsy, but in the kitchen, he was absolutely graceful. Gray snapped out of his daze when a cup of steaming tea flooded his vision. When had the flamebrain done that?

"Take it. We can't have you still be grumpy," said Natsu, who still held the tea. Gray reached for the cup and took it, his hand brushing Natsu's ever so lightly. But it was enough to send a shock through the both of them. Natsu quickly turned away again and Gray took a sip of his coffee. He sighed. Tea seemed to taste better today. _Maybe it's because Natsu made it? No, that doesn't make any sense,_ Gray thought.

He started watching Natsu again, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth when he noticed how hard the flamebrain was concentrating when pouring the topping over the oat cakes. When the dragon-slayer finished, he put all four oat cakes under the broiler to keep them warm.

"At a quarter to noon we need to leave for the opening announcements for the festival. After that, we'll have something to eat," said Gray.

"Okay," he said. Natsu went over to the bowl that had the sausages in it.

He took the bowl of sausages and poured the water out. He brought it to the stove where he placed a large pan on the burner and turned on the heat. Laying sausages one by one, Natsu filled the pan. They started to sizzle and gradually put off a scrumptious aroma.

Next, Natsu went to the fridge and pulled out a flat of eggs. He cracked and emptied them in a giant bowl. He seasoned them with salt, pepper, and some dried basil. Whipping the eggs, Natsu set up three more pans on the burners and poured an equal amount of eggs in each. With spatula and tongs in hand, he scrambled the eggs and turned the sausages.

After all of the food was prepared and set out on the table, Natsu started wringing his hands. With nothing left to keep him occupied, he started getting nervous about his thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked, stepping in front of Natsu.

"What if it comes backs? What if it hurts me more? What if it tries to take me?" Natsu grew more and more hysterical with each question.

Gray grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Stop it. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

"How can you promise that?" Natsu asked softly, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"We're comrades. We protect each other," he said, rubbing Natsu's tears away with his thumbs. "Now, let's go have some of your breakfast. Okay?"

"Okay." Natsu nodded and sniffed, rubbing his eyes dry with his sleeve. Gray and Natsu left the kitchen and headed toward the kitchen table.

Gray pushed Natsu toward the kitchen table and indicated that he should get something to eat. Natsu helped himself to a small piece of oat cake while Gray got a little bit of everything. They sat down and began eating.

Well, Natsu was more picking at his breakfast and Gray seemed to be in a different universe. Not literally, of course. When he took a bite of fruit, he was satisfied. When he took a bite of sausage, he thought the flamebrain cooked decently. When he took a bite of scrambled eggs, he thought he liked the flamebrain's cooking very much. When he took a bite of oat cake, he decided that he didn't like the flamebrain's cooking. He was in love with it! Gray virtually inhaled everything on his plate. Not a single crumb was left.

He looked over at Natsu to compliment him on the food but frowned as he saw him pushing the oat cake around on his plate. "You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry," replied Natsu.

"You need to eat something," urged Gray. "You haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning. Am I right?"

Natsu was saved from answering when a sense of dread washed over him. His head snapped up and he jumped out of his seat.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked immediately.

"I-I feel it."

"Feel what?" Gray didn't feel a damn thing, and he normally prided himself on his innate abilities. "The entity?"

Natsu nodded before collapsing to his knees on the floor. The feeling of dread just wouldn't go away.

Suddenly, the dragon-slayer was enveloped in a warm embrace, and strangely enough, that awful foreboding gradually began to dissipate, allowing him to take calmer breaths. Gray made him feel like he was _supposed_ to be alive. His presence chased away the darkness.

After a few minutes, Natsu spoke. "Gray? Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?" Natsu looked up at the ice mage questioningly.

"Because…" he began. He looked away. "I…want you to be happy…to smile, to laugh, to do something you _truly_ want to do. I hate seeing you so sad…so alone…" he trailed off. Gray jumped when he felt a hand grab his.

"Thank you, Gray. It feels like it's gone away for now. I wish there was a way I could repay you for all this."

 _A kiss would be nice._ _No! I can't ask for that!_ Gray debated in his mind. "Smile. Not the ones you always hide behind so that no one sees your sadness. I want you to give me a _real_ smile," he urged.

And smile he did. A smile so pure that it started to melt Gray's icy heart, because the smile was true and just for him.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

"Oh, shit," said Gray as he looked at the clock.

"What?" asked Natsu.

"We're going to be late for the opening of the Grand Magic Games! We need to go! Now!" Gray shouted. He bolted for the door, Natsu following close behind.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium**_

They'd finally arrived at the Magnolia Stadium. And it looked like they'd arrived a bit early, too. But not early enough.

No sooner had they arrived, that Gray was swarmed by girls wanting his autograph because of his spectacular performance at the Grand Magic Games last year. When he finally managed to flee them, he started seething.

"I hate people!" growled Gray after he'd broken free from the fans. His shirt had somehow disappeared, but not of his own volition this time.

"What happened?" inquired Natsu.

"Stupid fangirls is what happened. All I wanted was for the Royal Guards to keep them at bay. Is that so much to ask?"

"Well, you can't really blame them, can you? There's a lot going on today."

"Who asked you?" snapped Gray. He'd let his temper get the best of him.

Natsu shrank back from him and looked away in response.

"Natsu?" The dragon-slayer's head snapped up and he looked at Gray…timidly? "I'm sor-"

"No. I'm sorry. What do I know? I'm just a flamebrain, right?" Natsu said. The fire was gone from his eyes. He appeared submissive. Gray didn't like that look and he knew it was his own fault. "It's starting soon. I'm gonna go to the arena now. Meet up with…everyone."

With that, Natsu headed toward the arena. Gray stood back for a while before sighing and doing the same.

Happy and Lector, who'd been watching the exchange, glanced at each other. "I think Gray messed up," said Happy.

"I think you're right," replied Lector, looking concerned. "Hmm…they really like each other, don't they?"

Happy sighed. "Yeah, I think so. But Gray's not very good with handling his emotions. Sometimes he lets his anger get in the way of reason."

"I guess I can understand that." Lector stared after Gray when a thought dawned on him. "I have an idea."

"What?" Happy wasn't too sure about the smirk on Lector's face.

"We're going to get them back together again."

Happy now had a smirk that matched Lector's. "I like the way you think. Any ideas?"

"Yeah. Here's what we'll do…" And Lector started whispering in Happy's ear, a large grin spreading across his face.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium (Arena)**_

"Welcome, everyone, to the Ninth Annual Grand Magic Games!" Cheers erupted in the arena after the announcer's opening statement. "We have many events planned for the duration of the games. There will be competitions, games, food, and contests. Throughout Magnolia there will be booths selling food, many different games to play, and contests. And guess what the best part is? Children twelve and under can participate for free!"

More cheers sounded, especially from the children.

"Now, I'd like to introduce you to the twenty-six guilds of the Grand Magic Games. Please come on out when I call your guild."

Everyone waited in anticipation.

"Blue Pegasus!" They winked at the crowd.

"Titan Nose!" They rolled their eyes.

"Naked Mummy!" They started laughing insanely.

"Orochi's Fin!" They smiled at the crowd.

"Mermaid Heel!" They shook hands with Orochi's Fin.

"Um…Sylph Labyrinth!" They glared when boos erupted in the arena due to the knowledge they were a guild that didn't use magic.

"Hound Holy!" They appeared emotionless.

"Quatro Cerberus!" Bacchus tripped, picked himself up, and smiled sheepishly at the crowd.

"Scarmiglione!" They went over to Bacchus, looking concerned.

"Carbuncle!" They blew a kiss to the crowd.

"Twilight Ogre!" They looked...unhappy.

"Southern Wolves!" They smiled and laughed giddily.

"Mount Altana!" They appeared quite serious.

"Red Hood!" They laughed maniacally.

"Dark Unicorn!" They started a brief altercation with Red Hood.

"Crime Sorciere!" They crossed their arms.

"Dwarf Gear!" They winked at the ladies, but they weren't as…effective as Blue Pegasus.

"Harpuia!" They smiled and waved.

"Phoenix Grave!" They greeted Dwarf Gear.

"Death's Head Caucus!" They hugged each other.

"Dullahan Head!" Titan Nose eyed them strangely.

"Lamia Scale!" They sighed.

"Sabertooth!" They eagerly waved at the crowd.

"Gramlush!" They shook hands with Dullahan Head.

"Fairy Tail!" They cheered with the crowd.

"And Dark Entity!" They remained motionless.

"Let's have a round of applause for your twenty-six guilds!" The crowd cheered and screamed in the arena for their favorite guilds.

"Now, I'll hand it over to King Toma E. Fiore," finished the announcer. King Fiore headed toward the middle of the arena and soon everyone heard his excited voice.

"Welcome, everyone! I will now explain what will happen during these games. My trusty database—which is your typical archive magic—will select your opponents. You will not know your opponent until the day a competition begins. Your opponent will also be selected by my database. Again, you may make no substitutions.

"We will have thirteen matches in the first round, leaving us with thirteen winners. We will then have a Wild Card Draw, in which a random guild will be eliminated from round two.

"Round two will be a tag team tournament between the remaining twelve guilds. Your tag team guild partners will also be selected randomly by my database. After those three tag tournaments, we will have six guilds left.

"Round three will consist of these six guilds. Each guild will face each other once. The guild with the most losses will be eliminated. When we reach round four, the guilds will be divided. The remaining four guilds will battle against each other based on the selection of my database. At this point, a new competition will be selected. You will perform this competition in round five.

"The two winners will then face off against each other. These finalists will be allowed to select any members for the finals. The winner will be known as the number one strongest guild in Fiore."

He paused when sounds of excitement rippled through the arena.

"The first competitions begin tomorrow. I hope to see you there." King Fiore stepped down and the announcer for the festival started speaking again.

"All right. You've heard it from the man himself. Thank you and good day! Enjoy the Grand Magic Games!"

After this dismissal, Natsu hurried away with Gray close behind.

"Natsu, wait!" started Gray. He grabbed the dragon-slayer and turned him around. "I need to talk to you."

Natsu bowed his head. He would not look at him. This submissive behavior was really starting to scare Gray.

"Hey, look at me," the ice mage said gently. He lifted Natsu's chin so that he could look into his eyes. Gray's heart almost broke at the look. Natsu looked so broken and scared. "I am really sorry about what I said earlier. I…let my anger get the best off me." He swallowed hard. "I did not mean to snap at you. I'll try to keep my anger under control. You have my word."

Natsu searched his eyes, hoping to see truth in them. "Okay," he said. "You do _like_ me, right?"

"Yes." Gray suddenly realized what he was answering. He blushed.

Natsu gave a small laugh then sighed. "I think maybe, just maybe, you'll need help keeping your anger in check. A lot of help. I can help you with that if you want. What do you think?"

"I think I'd like that very mu-"

"Natsu! Gray!"

They both jumped when they heard Lector yell. He flew over to them, breathing hard.

"He's gone! Happy's gone! I can't find him anywhere!"

"What do you mean he's gone?" cried Natsu. "Why weren't you together? I thought you were hanging out today." Natsu _really_ didn't need this right now.

"Where did you last see him?" Gray asked urgently, noticing the look on Natsu's face.

"Umm…I…I can't remember!" whimpered Lector.

Natsu started pulling his hair in distress. "We need to find him Gray! We need to find him!"

"What's going on, Natsu?" exclaimed Sting, rushing over to his disheveled friend and upset Exceed.

"Happy is missing! He's missing!"

Rogue ran over to them, panting. "So is Frosch!"

"Everybody split up! We need to search this place from top to bottom" said Gray. "Come with me, Natsu. We'll notify the security posted in the arena."

Soon, an announcement could be heard throughout the arena, notifying all personnel and anyone within earshot that there were two cats with wings missing. A brief description of the Exceeds were given, including their name, and people ran off in all directions in search of him.

* * *

"Everything's going according to plan," muttered Lector. "This was definitely the best way to get those two back together," he continued as he entered the Men's Restroom. He went over to the stall Happy and Frosch were in.

"They're not here!" screeched Lector. His eyes widened.

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

" _Okay, Happy and Frosch. You two stay in this stall until I come and get you, okay?" said Happy._

" _Okay," said Happy._

" _Fro will, too," replied Frosch. The two other Exceeds hadn't planned on Frosch joining them, but after showing up, they really had no other choice._

 _Happy locked the door to the stall and Lector left the bathroom to set their plan in motion._

 _ **End Flashback**_

* * *

 _ **Back with Lector**_

"Why would they leave?" questioned Lector while he started to panic. "Sting and Rogue are going to kill me!"

Lector ran from the restroom, hoping to find Happy and Frosch before anything bad could happen to them.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium (Lobby)**_

"Where is he, Gray? We've looked everywhere," Natsu cried hopelessly. For once, Gray didn't know what to do. He felt so…powerless. And there was nothing he could do. They'd searched everywhere. It was as if Happy had vanished. He tried to comfort Natsu, but he didn't know what to say. His eyes started tearing up.

"Natsu-"

"Are you looking for them?" came a familiar voice from behind Gray. "You really should be more careful, Gray."

Gray and Natsu jumped at Lyon's voice. They whirled around to face him and their eyes lit up in relief at the sight before them. Natsu flung himself at Happy—and Frosch—hugging them tightly.

"Natsu? What's wrong with you?" Natsu sniffed and leaned away from Happy's face. He inspected every inch of him to make sure he was all right.

"Where were you? Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Natsu fretted.

Happy looked confused. "I'm okay." He then looked at Gray. "Help?"

Now it was Gray's turn. He firmly took Happy out of Natsu's arms, much to Natsu's dismay, and squeezed him in relief. "Don't you ever do that again!" he scolded.

Then Natsu did something unexpected. He jumped at Lyon and hugged him. "Thank you so much for finding them." He released Lyon from his death grip and looked at him. "Where was he? How did you find him?"

Lyon just smiled. "Ask the cat. Mind those Exceeds of yours. That goes for the both of you. Take care." He waved and made his way out of the lobby.

"What did he mean?" asked Natsu. "Happy, what happened?"

Happy fidgeted because he wasn't sure if he should answer. "Um…"

"What happened?"

"Okay. Lector and I made a plan. We went to the bathroom and I stayed in the stall, but Frosch showed up and wanted to help, too. I was going to hide so that you would panic. It was meant to get you and Gray back together. But Frosch ran away! Ran to get Frosch back, but then we got lost. Then that ice weirdo found us."

Natsu and Gray stared at Happy for the longest time, unsure of what they just heard.

Natsu narrowed his eyes, an evil glare marring his features. He took a few steps away from Gray and Happy. "LECTOR! YOU BETTER GET YOUR SCRAWNY BUTT OVER HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU AND HAPPY ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!"

* * *

"What on earth did you two think you were doing?" roared Natsu. Happy and Lector looked down at their feet sheepishly. "Explain! Now!" His voice left no room for argument. Gray, Sting, and Rogue just stood there, wondering how Natsu suddenly became such a disciplinarian.

"We saw you and Gray fight. We didn't know what is was about, but we wanted to get you guys back together again," Lector said quietly.

"We thought that if one of us was missing, you guys would forget about what happened and get together again…because you care about us…" continued Happy.

"So Happy kinda hid in the bathroom. Just long enough for you and Gray to get back together. But when I went back to the bathroom, he and Frosch were gone! I didn't know they would actually go missing!" Lector seemed like he was about to cry.

"And I didn't really mean to get us lost, either!" implored Happy.

Natsu's heart softened at their heartfelt intentions.

"You _do_ realize that you'll need to be punished, right?" asked Natsu. Happy and Lector stared at Natsu apprehensively.

"Punished?" they responded in unison.

"Yes, punished. You can still hang out together and participate in the games."

 _How is this punishment?_ Gray thought.

"However, for the next week the both of you will be cut off from fish. Is that understood?"

Happy and Lector glanced at each other in horror, then looked at Natsu and nodded.

"Good. I'll be checking in with Sting, also, to make sure you're doing just that."

"Oh no, you won't. Because Lector will be doing no such thing," growled an irritated Sting. "You have no right to discipline _my_ friend. He will not be cut off from fish."

"And why not? They both did the crime, now they both do the time. What'll they learn if you don't give them a consequence?" argued Natsu.

"What can they possibly learn from not eating fish?" he argued back. Happy and Lector cringed.

"First off, they'll most likely think twice before pulling a stunt like this again. Secondly, they'll be learning what it's like to be responsible. Thirdly, they'll come to realize what they take for granted. Think about it.

"If I have to break this down for you, it means that Happy and Lector will never do something like this again, especially with Frosch involved. Maybe you should think about that. That goes for you guys, too," he said, indicating Happy and Lector.

"I don't think so-" began Sting,

"It's okay, Sting. We shouldn't have done that. It's only fair that Happy and I do this. And…I won't eat fish whether you want me to or not."

"We were only trying to help Gray and Natsu get back together. We didn't mean any harm. And we especially didn't want to involve Frosch," continued Happy.

"For the record, we are _not_ together," Gray cut in, shooting a slight glare at the Exceeds. He didn't want anyone getting any…ideas.

Natsu started to fight back tears. He was hurt by Gray's words.

* * *

They walked out of the stadium. Natsu was hurt. Truly hurt. Why couldn't anything ever go right for him? Why was he always hurt? What was it about him that always made Gray angry?

Gray confused him. Sometimes he was sweet and kind, and other times he was cruel and heartless. Why?

Natsu tried not to think about that anymore. He was tired of being hurt by Gray. He should just let him go his own way. He'd take care of Happy and just stay out of his way. Yeah. He'd do that. It was better that way.

But if that were so, why did he feel so depressed?

"Natsu?" Happy's soft voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry," Happy said, rubbing his stomach.

Natsu forced a small smile on his face. "Okay. We'll get you some food. Let's head to a café?" Everyone cheered up at the prospect. Everyone…except Natsu.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 _I hate my life_ , Natsu thought as they headed for the café. _Gray despises me. What am I going to do?_ He sighed as he fought back tears. _And I have these feelings to deal with. I guess Gray and I will just go back to hating each other now. Why doesn't anything ever go right for me?_

The feeling of dread began seeping into Natsu's mind once more. The darkness was coming back.

* * *

 _ **Gray's POV**_

He looks so distant, so broken. And it's all my fault. Why do I keep doing this to him? Why do I keep hurting him? Why do I keep pushing him away? Can't he see that I don't mean it? I swear I will make it up to you, Natsu. I will make things right. After we eat at the café, I'll end this.

* * *

 _ **Natsu's POV**_

He looks so cold, so emotionless. How could I ever think he'd like someone like me? A flamebrain. I do nothing but anger him and hurt the ones I love. I can't do anything right. How can I take care of Happy if I can't even take care of myself? I…shouldn't be here. I…don't think…I can take this anymore. But I will set things right. After we eat at the café, I'll end this.

* * *

 _ **Café (Normal POV)**_

"Geez, Natsu. You didn't eat much," commented Lucy.

Natsu glanced at her blankly.

"Yeah, Natsu. You normally eat the whole restaurant out!" said Happy.

"I agree," said Erza. "Is something wrong?"

Natsu sighed and looked down at the floor. He seemed disheartened. "I'm gonna go back to…excuse me," he said quietly. He left.

"What was that all about?" asked Lucy.

"I don't know," replied Gray.

Natsu tried to leave the café as quickly as possible. Why did he feel so…depressed? _I really do love Gray…don't I?_ He kept thinking until he bumped into something. Tripping, Natsu yelped as he felt himself falling toward the floor. He closed his eyes for the impact.

But it never came.

Two strong arms held his own, preventing him from falling to the floor. Natsu apprehensively opened his eyes, only to see startling blue ones.

"Careful, flamebrain," said Gray quietly.

 _Does Gray actually care?_ Natsu thought, a small glimmer of hope flashing through his eyes.

"We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself before the games now would we?" he continued with a smirk.

 _I guess not_ , Gray thought glumly, the small flare of hope extinguishing itself, only to be replaced with despair. He sighed again and looked away. "Whatever. Just let me go," he said softly, avoiding eye-contact.

Gray let him go and watched as Natsu left the café and headed for the ice mage's apartment. That was strange. It was so unlike Natsu to take an insult and just walk away. Where was the retaliation? The fire in his eyes? Gray was confused and…worried.

Something was wrong with his flamebrain. Yes, _his_ flamebrain. And he was obviously the reason. But he was going to put an end to it. After he paid the bill, of course.

* * *

 _ **Gray's Apartment (Bathroom) – Trigger Warning: Suicidal Thoughts/Actions**_

Natsu moved over to the mirror and glanced at his reflection, noticing that he looked quite pale and tired. Sighing again, Natsu carefully twisted his body around. His ribs throbbed painfully.

Breathing hard because of the pain in his ribs, Natsu wearily sat down on the floor. He rested his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his shaking hands.

 _I don't want this anymore._ Tears started running down his face as silent sobs shook his body. _I love him so much. I love Gray so much. But he doesn't want me. It hurts! He hurts me so much! I don't want this anymore._

Natsu sniffed as he brought his hands away from his face and looked back up into the mirror again. He saw his pained expression and grew angry. The dragon-slayer stood up, drew back his fist and punched his reflection, shattering the mirror into hundreds of pieces. And then he started laughing. It was an empty, hollow laugh. And he continued laughing as he stared at the blood trickling down his hand.

His laughter gradually died down as he eyed a long, sharp shard from the broken mirror. Carefully picking up the shard, Natsu stared at it. _What if I…_

He slowly placed the shard above his left wrist. Pressing down on the skin, he-

" _Do it_."

Natsu's head shot up at the demanding voice. He glanced around the bathroom. No one was there. Maybe...he was hearing things. All the more reason to end this. He pressed the shard down on his wrist again, hesitating.

" _Do it!_ "

Natsu stopped. This time it sounded more forceful. He looked around the room again. Where was the disembodied voice coming from?

"I have to do it," he said hopelessly, agreeing with the voice, but unsure if the voice he was talking to was real or not. He quickly pressed the shard to his wrist a third time, hand shaking as he hesitated again.

" _DO IT_!"

Natsu jerked his hand away, nicking his wrist as he shot up from the floor.

"Who's there?" Silence. "Who's there?!" he screamed. And then he started crying. He was losing it. That was the only explanation. Natsu dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face once again. "I have to do this. I can't do this anymore," he declared one last time, pressing the shard down on his wrist to make the deep cut that would end his life.

But another hand firmly gripped his wrist and pulled it away from his exposed arm. Natsu grew hysterical as he fought the strong grip, but another hand seized his other wrist.

"Let me go! Let me go! I have to do this!" Natsu shouted, struggling against the hands around his wrists. He quickly grew exhausted and dropped the shard. The person holding his wrists kicked it to the other side of the room and natsu felt himself look up against his will, only to meet terrified blue eyes.

Natsu's eyes filled with more tears as he weakly fought against Gray's grip. But he soon surrendered.

Sensing that he'd given up for now, Gray sat on the floor and pulled Natsu into his lap, wrapping his arms around the dragon-slayer's trembling body protectively. "Natsu, what are you doing?" Gray said quietly. He was in shock. Never, in his entire life, had he expected to see his flamebrain on the floor, preparing to slit his wrists. Had he done this to him? "Talk to me," he urged. But Natsu didn't answer. He just sat there in Gray's lap, his back pressed against his chest.

"Natsu, please talk to me." Gray tightened his grip around him.

The dragon-slayer yelped in pain and tried to get away. Gray let him go, alarmed. He didn't do anything, did he? Unless…

Natsu pressed himself up against the wall, far from Gray. He looked at him like he expected the ice mage to attack or something. The closer Gray got, the more Natsu pressed himself up against the wall, whimpering in either pain or fright. Maybe it was a little bit of both.

"Natsu? Natsu, it's okay." Gray felt like he was trying to comfort a wounded animal. "It's okay. It's Gray." Recognition seemed to dawn in Natsu's glazed eyes.

"Gray?" he said timidly.

"Yes, it's Gray." He took that time to walk up to Natsu and he hesitantly reached out to touch the dragon-slayer's chest. He whimpered at the contact. Gray braced himself as he started to remove Natsu's shirt so that he could see the extent of his injuries, but the fire mage's hands stopped his.

"No," Natsu said, his eyes looking wild again.

"Natsu, please let me see. I need to see where you're hurt," Gray pleaded. He tried removing his shirt again.

"No," Natsu said helplessly, but he didn't fight this time as Gray lifted his shirt.

Gray gasped when he saw the giant bruise on Natsu's torso. It seemed to be every shade possible. His ribs looked the worst; they were red and purple, the outsides of his ribs were covered in purple and blue bruises with hints of yellow and green apparent.

 _Who did this to you? Someone's been hurting you for awhile. Who? Who's been hurting you?_ He noticed a few new scars on the sides of Natsu's ribs. W _hen did he get so skinny…and frail? Was he always like this?_ Gray felt up Natsu's ribs. Nothing appeared broken. That was good at least. He slowly pulled the dragon-slayer's shirt back down, a pained expression on his face.

"I'm going to take take care of you. Okay?" Gray searched Natsu's guarded eyes.

The dragon-slayer looked at him in disbelief. "No. You're gonna hurt me."

Gray was surprised by Natsu's words. "I'm not going to hurt you," he replied slowly.

"Yes, you are," Natsu insisted. "You always hurt me. You're gonna hurt me again."

"I won-"

"Yes, you will!" he cried out agonizingly. "Why do you hurt me? You always insult me. You make empty promises. You say that you care, but you lie! Why do you lie? You don't care. You hate me. I never do anything right. No matter what I do, you hate me. I make you mad. Everyone's better off without me. No one needs me," Natsu rambled. He grew breathlessly hysterical with every word.

Gray didn't know what to do. Part of what Natsu said was true, but Gray didn't mean to hurt him. "I'm sorry. I know I've said this before, but I'm sorry. I don't know why I keep hurting you…pushing you away. I don't. But I really am sorry." At this point a tear finally escaped and rolled down Gray cheek.

Natsu saw it. And hesitantly wiped it away. He looked into Gray's eyes and just stared. For a while, they just stared at each other in silence.

" _Don't trust him_."

Natsu jerked away from Gray. It was that voice again. Gray watched as Natsu searched the bathroom frantically for something.

"Natsu? What are you doing?" he asked confusedly.

"Didn't you hear it?" Natsu inquired, looking distressed.

"Hear what?"

"The voice! It's talking again!" At this point Gray was utterly frightened. He hadn't heard a voice. Or _anything_ , for that matter. What was wrong with his flamebrain?

" _Don't trust him_."

"There! Did you hear it?" Natsu cried.

"I…didn't hear anything, Natsu," Gray responded slowly. He honestly didn't hear a thing.

Natsu grew anxious. "No! You had to hear it! You had to!" He looked so helpless. "Dammit! Where are you?" Natsu started throwing things about the room, searching for the source of the voice.

Gray rushed over to Natsu and pulled him into a firm hug, drawing the dragon-slayer's head toward his chest.

"Why can't you hear it? I heard it," Natsu mumbled over and over again in Gray's chest.

 _Why is he hearing voices? What the hell happened to him? Did I make this happen?_ "What…did the voice say?" How else was he supposed to respond?

"You don't believe me. You won't believe me." Natsu continued to mumble.

Gray sighed and closed his eyes. "I do believe you. Now, what did the voice say?"

"It…it told me to cut myself. And then…just now…it said not to trust you."

 _That seems strange. A voice telling him to harm himself? Maybe he's hearing things due to exhaustion. That's got to be it._ Gray sounded convinced in his head. "Natsu, I'm going to take you to the bedroom now."

"Hm?" Natsu sounded dumbfounded.

"Yes…Natsu. I need you to trust me. Everything is going to be fine. I'm sorry for what I've put you through." _I hope he knows that I mean this._

"I…can't accept…your apology," whispered Natsu. "I don't think…I trust you...anymore." Gray looked heartbroken. "But…I'm willing to give you a chance. You said you believed me?" Gray nodded in response. "Then I'll let you…help me…get to know me…but only if you open yourself up to me, too. This…can't be one-sided, Gray." _I'll do anything to make the voice go away. I need it to go away. Am I losing my mind?_

Gray seemed contemplative. He'd never really opened u to anyone. But if that was what it took to get Natsu safe and sane, then that's exactly what he'd do. "All right. I'll be honest with you, but you need to be honest with me, too. Are we agreed?"

"Agreed," Natsu said hesitantly. He dropped his gaze and looked as his hands, now crusting in blood.

Gray looked at them, too. He took Natsu's hands in his own and gently caressed his knuckles. "I'm going to take you to the bedroom, fix you up, and we'll talk. You will be staying in my room so that I can keep an eye on you."

"Bu-"

"In order for you to look after Happy, we need to get you to start taking care of yourself…the way I care about you," Gray said softly. Natsu jerked his head up in surprise, only to see Gray's head descend and plant a light kiss on his forehead; they both blushed slightly. Gray cleared his throat. "Let's go."

Gray placed his hand in Natsu's and gently led him out of the bathroom, but as they were leaving, Natsu saw something out of the corner of his eye. Quickly, he turned his head, only to see something dark fade into the shadows.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

"Wait," Natsu said as he tugged on Gray's hand, urging him to stop. "I think I saw something." Gray turned to see him staring intently at a darkened corner of the room.

"What did you see?" Gray responded, following Natsu to the corner. Natsu moved stuff around, but he couldn't find anything. Frustrated, he kicked at the objects in the corner. "Natsu, stop."

"I saw something. I know I saw something," he muttered forcefully, more to himself than the ice mage.

If Natsu was worried before, he didn't know what to classify himself as now. First, it was voices. Now, Natsu was seeing things? It had to be due to exhaustion from the past few days, right?

"Natsu, I don't see anything. Come on. You need to get some rest." Gray gently pulled him away from the corner of the room and all the dragon-slayer could do was stare at it in bewilderment.

He turned to face Gray, fear clearly evident in his eyes. In a quiet voice, he said, "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing. There's nothing wrong with you." Gray wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself of that or Natsu. "You're just worn out from the events of the past few days. You've gone through a lot. You need rest."

"I don't think that's it," Natsu said weakly, averting his eyes. "I heard a voice that you didn't hear…and I saw something you didn't see. How can something not be wrong with me?" He looked back up, this time appearing vulnerable and utterly helpless. Gray was at a loss for words.

"I…" began Gray, but he stopped. He didn't know what to say. Instead, he pulled the fire mage into his arms and gently stroked his back.

Natsu gripped Gray's shirt like a lifeline; he was absolutely terrified by the fact that he was hearing a voice and seeing things. But maybe…Gray was right. He hadn't been eating or sleeping very well for the past few days. After everything that had happened, perhaps he was just hallucinating from fatigue. Yes. That had to be it. He took a deep breath to calm himself, only to cry out in pain.

Gray jumped upon hearing the dragon-slayer yelp. "Natsu?" he said, alarmed.

Natsu was struggling to breathe. He kept gasping for air while clawing at Gray's shirt.

"Natsu? What's wrong?"

"My chest…h-hurts…" he wheezed. "Can't breathe." Natsu started to panic as he fought to breathe. He felt slightly dizzy and nauseous.

"Natsu. Listen to me," Gray said, guiding the dragon-slayer's face to meet his eyes. "You need to calm down. You need to try and slow your breathing. Can you do that?"

"I-I-"

Gray quickly pulled Natsu against him. "Can you feel my heartbeat? Concentrate on my heartbeat. Try and match your breathing with mine," the ice mage said calmly, making soothing sounds to ease Natsu. He firmly rubbed his back to coax the dragon-slayer into relaxing.

He could feel Gray's heart; he could feel it pounding against his chest. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feel of the ice mage's steady breathing, trying to get himself under control. After what seemed like forever, Natsu finally matched his breathing with Gray's.

"That's it. You're doing fine, Natsu. You're doing fine." He cradled Natsu in his arms and rested his chin on top of the fire mage's head. "Are you okay now?"

"I don't feel so good. I'm cold," he mumbled, closing his eyes.

Gray pulled away, making Natsu's eyes pop open. He wobbled a bit as the ice mage placed a hand on his forehead. His hands travelled down his arms until they reached his hands. "You're freezing," he said. He lifted him bridal style and carried him out of the bathroom.

He glanced back down at Natsu. His eyes were closed…but he was breathing steadily. He needed to get him some medical attention. Soon.

Gray picked up his pace, left the apartment, and sped toward the guild. He kicked the door open with one thrust of his leg and quickly stepped outside. It seemed like everyone was talking merrily. No one noticed them. His eyes panned the crowd.

"Happy!"

Said Exceed turned at the sound of Gray's voice and paled at the sight of Natsu in Gray's arms. Lucy and Erza noticed his expression and turned as well. Lucy gasped, soon getting everyone's attention.

Happy flew over to Natsu and Gray. "What happened?" he shrieked. At this point, Gray wasn't sure how much to reveal just yet. He didn't want to scare everyone. That and he wasn't even sure what was going on himself.

"I'm not sure. I need you to get Wendy and Porlyusica. Now. Tell them to meet us at the infirmary. We need them there as soon as possible," he replied, trying hard to keep the panic out of his voice.

"Okay, Gray." He looked at the ice mage uneasily. He'd never seen him look this troubled before. Something serious had to be going on in order for him to react this way.

"What happened to Natsu?" yelled Lucy and Erza at the same time. They were terrified.

"Later! I need to get him to the infirmary now!" Gray urged, pushing past them.

Happy flew back over to them. "I sent Charle to get Wendy and Porlyusica," gasped Happy.

"How soon until they get here?" asked Gray.

"Fifteen minutes or so."

Gray nodded and took Natsu to the infirmary. Happy got in after him, followed by Lucy and Erza.

Lucy regarded Gray and Natsu warily. "Gray? What happened?" She'd never seen Natsu like this before and Gray's anxious expression wasn't helping the situation either. Gray remained quiet as he looked at Natsu on the infirmary bed. "Gray?"

He sighed and faced the three pairs of eyes that seemed to bore holes into his very soul. _What do I tell them? I don't want them to worry, but if something is wrong, they'll have to know anyway. It might be best to tell them the truth. Why does this have to be so hard?_

"Natsu's been staying with me since the start of the Grand Magic Games. Happy wanted me to keep an eye on him, and I just recently learned that Natsu…burned his house down."

"Why would he do that?" inquired Lucy.

Gray swallowed hard. "He said something—a dark entity—has been following him…hurting him…wanting him…dead. So he set his house on fire to run away from it."

Erza's eyes widened. "Why wouldn't he tell us something like this? Does he not trust us?"

"I think maybe he thought that he was protecting us," said Gray. "Or that he didn't want to be a burden. But things have gotten…worse.

"I found Natsu in my bathroom. I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier." He paused and took a deep breath. "When I got there, he was on the floor…on his knees. He had a shard of mirror in his hand. He was about to hurt himself," he said.

Lucy brought her hands to her face, covering her mouth.

"I ran over to him and got the glass out of his hand and tried to calm him down. Then I discovered he was hurt elsewhere. Then he said that he was hearing voices and he saw something, but nothing was there," Gray continued desperately. "I got him to calm down again and then I think he had a minor panic attack. I'm not sure. After he started to breathe normally again, he said that he was cold. That's when I brought him here."

No one said a word, but Happy's face held an odd look. He glanced at Natsu and appeared almost contemplative. His eyes wavered a bit as worry took over when he heard Natsu whimper in his unconscious state. _What's going on with you Natsu? What did you do to yourself? And why-wait…voices?_ Recognition seemed to dawn in Happy's eyes.

"I'll stay with him. Let me know when Wendy and Porlyusica arrive," said Gray as he ushered them away.

"Wha-" Lucy cut herself off when she saw Happy storm out of the infirmary. "Happy?" He didn't seem to hear her.

Happy entered the guild and headed toward Pantherlily and Gajeel.

"Happy, what are you doing?" asked Lucy. He looked a bit wild staring down Gajeel.

"Natsu's hearing voices," Happy exclaimed.

"He's hearing what now?" asked Gajeel. The others had arrived.

"And I think you are, too," Happy added.

"What the hell are you going on about?" inquired Gajeel.

Happy's eyes narrowed. "Exceeds talk. Lily mentioned the other day that you were grumbling to someone and he didn't notice anyone there."

Lily's eyes widened. "That was supposed to be between you and me!"

"Charle, Lector, and Frosch have mentioned similar occurrences with Wendy, Sting, and Rogue," said Happy. "However, with you four, it's only been in your sleep. It's different with Natsu. It happens while he's awake."

Gajeel narrowed his eyes. "What's your point?"

Happy sighed. "What do you hear? What do the voices say?"

The iron dragon-slayer crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. He noticed all his guild mates' eyes staring at him. "Voice. Not voices," he said. "And I don't remember. I never remember. Lily always asks why I talk in my sleep, but I never remember anything when I wake up."

Happy looked contemplative. "I wonder if it's only a voice dragon-slayers can hear."

"What do you mean, Happy?" asked Lucy.

"Dragon-slayers have really sensitive hearing. So what if there really is a voice, but only they can hear it?"

Erza nodded. "That makes sense. But still, what is this voice that is affecting Natsu so much?"

"How about Levy and I do some research on it?" suggested Lucy. "Maybe we can find something."

"That's a start, at least," said Erza. "In the meantime, we should all keep a close eye on Natsu."

"Where is the boy?" Everyone spun around at the sound of an elderly voice. It Porlyusica, followed by Wendy.

"Oh! Porlyusica! Wendy! Come with me!" Happy called, leading them to the infirmary. Lucy stared after them.

"Lucy? What did you need me for?" urged Levy, tugging on her friend's sleeve. She looked down.

"We need to do some research."

"Okay. On what?"

"Voices only dragon-slayers can hear," she said. "Let's get to work, Levy," said Lucy. Both she and Levy headed downstairs to research in the guild library.

* * *

 _ **Infirmary**_

Gray gently pulled the covers over Natsu as he tried making him more comfortable in the infirmary bed. This only caused the dragon-slayer to open his eyes. As his vision cleared, he noticed Gray staring at him intently. "Hey," Natsu said softly.

"Hey," Gray replied. "How are you feeling?" He pushed Natsu's hair out of his face.

"Tired," he responded ruefully. The dragon-slayer forced a small smile on his face. "I'm fine."

At this, Gray got angry. "You are _not_ fine," he said forcefully. "You had me worried sick! Just what did you think you were doing? Why were you trying to hurt yourself?" Natsu cringed at Gray's harsh tone.

Growing upset with himself, he replied, "I don't know. I wasn't thinking-"

"Damn straight, you weren't thinking!" Gray lashed out. He started pacing the room. "Do you know what you've put everyone through?" The ice mage reared on Natsu and glared at him full force.

The dragon-slayer attempted to get up from the bed, but Gray roughly pushed him back down, pinning him to the bed by straddling his hips, arms held above his head. He struggled against him, but he was too weak to break free.

Then he started crying softly. "Please l-let me go. I won't be b-bad again. Just please don't h-hurt me," he gasped.

 _Hurt you?_ Gray quickly let go of Natsu's wrists and leaned back so that he could sit up. Natsu's eyes had become glazed again, like he wasn't really there or sure where he was. "Natsu? You weren't bad."

"I…wasn't?" the dragon-slayer asked skeptically.

"No. You weren't. I just got…carried away. You scared me."

"But that means I was bad. I was bad," he insisted.

"Natsu. You-"

"Yes, I was!" he implored. "Are you gonna p-punish me now?"

Gray was thoroughly perplexed by this point. _Why would he think I would punish him?_ _He seems like he's not…completely here. There's only one way to find out._ "Natsu. Do you know who I am?" Gray was afraid of the answer, but he had to ask to make sure.

Natsu was momentarily confused. "Who you are?" he repeated softly. "You're…" Natsu's eyes seemed to focus on Gray's, as if trying to reassemble his thoughts. "You're…" He sighed in irritation as he continued staring at him. "You're…Gray." His vision seemed to clear. "Gray…"

 _What the hell is going on with him? It's like he's zoning in and out of reality or something._ "Yes, it's Gray. Do you know where you are?"

Natsu glanced around the room. "The…infirmary?" He hesitated in his response, afraid that he might be wrong.

"Yes. That's right. You're in the infirmary. Do you remember what happened? Or how you got here?" Gray was curious as to how he would respond.

"I'm not sure," Natsu replied, looking scared. "What's happening to me?" he asked quietly.

"I-" He was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

"Gray? They're here," a voice called from the door.

Gray got up from the bed and opened the door. "Come in."

"So-" Porlyusica cut herself off when she noticed Natsu. She seemed to be in temporary shock. Recovering herself, she said, "So this is my patient today?" Gray nodded as he closed the door back. "And what…seems to be the problem?"

"I found him trying to slit his wrists. And he also has a large bruise on his chest. Then he said he was hearing voices and seeing things. And I think he may have had a small panic attack as well. I tried calming him down and then he said he didn't feel well; he felt cold."

"All right." Porlyusica placed her bag down on the bedside table. "I asked Wendy to stay outside. Now I need you to step out so that I can give him a thorough exam. I'll let you know what I find and what you can do when I'm finished."

Gray was reluctant to leave at first but gave in. He nodded and turned to leave. "Gray?" Natsu's voice stopped him in his tracks. "Don't go." Gray walked back over to Natsu.

"It's all right. She's going to help you. Okay?"

"Okay," Natsu said quietly. "But you'll come back, right?"

"Yes. I'll come back," he replied, running his fingers through Natsu's hair. "You'll be fine."

Gray left the room and closed the door softly behind him. He leaned back against the door and sighed, rubbing his temples in concern. _Please let Natsu be okay. What could have triggered these…episodes he's been having?_

He moved away from the door and started walking away when something caught his eye. The guild was a mess, and not in its usual fashion. There were mounds of books littered everywhere.

He made for the guild floor, only to see Happy, Levy, and Lucy scouring over books. "What are you three doing?" he asked. The three of them jumped straight into the air.

"We're researching," said Happy as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"For what?"

"Found it!" Levy exclaimed.

"Found what?" Gray asked. He was confused and intrigued by Levy's broad smile.

"What we were looking for," said Happy.

"That tells me nothing," said Gray.

"Well, Happy had this idea that there really is a voice that Natsu is hearing," started Lucy. "He mentioned that maybe it's a voice only dragon-slayers can hear because they have such sensitive hearing."

"Happy also said that the other dragon-slayers have been hearing a voice, too, but only in their sleep. However, they don't remember anything once they wake up. Since their Exceeds are practically with them every minute, it was easy for them to realize something was going on," said Levy.

"By dragon-slayers, do you mean Laxus, too?" asked Gray.

Happy shook his head. "Only Wendy, Gajeel, Sting, Rogue, and Natsu."

"So the ones who were actually raised by dragons?" Happy nodded in confirmation. "And what did you find?"

Levy skimmed the passage she'd read once more so that she could explain what she'd found. "This is actually information on the Dragon Ceremony. Remember when we learned that the dragons sealed themselves inside the dragon-slayers? It helped produce antibodies so that they wouldn't turn into dragons. But that's not all. There are side effects."

"What kinds of side effects?" asked Gray.

"Basically, once the Dragon Ceremony is complete, it makes their minds fuzzy."

"Like memory loss?"

"Exactly. Sometimes memories can be recovered, other times they can't. But the time it takes to recover memories can vary," said Levy. "I think the dragon-slayers are starting to remember the events of the past before the Dragon Ceremony. That might be what they're dreaming about and why they're talking in their sleep or hearing a voice. They're starting to remember."

"But they don't remember anything when they wake up," said Lucy.

"I think it's something that takes time, and they'll fully remember some day. Soon at the rate they're having these dreams," added Levy.

"But what about Natsu?" inquired Gray. "He hasn't mentioned anything like that. Only some dark entity and voice that hurts him. What the hell is that?"

"I not quite sure," said Levy. "I do think it's somehow related to the Dragon Ceremony, though. We need to do a little more research, but it's difficult. There isn't much information on dragons, let alone dragon-slayers. We'll keep doing what we need to do, but we'll have to rely heavily on what the dragon-slayers tell us."

Lucy's eyes lit up. "We should document this. That way we can always revisit our notes and findings so that we can better help them."

Gray sighed. "I guess that's better than nothing. But we'll have to keep an eye on them. All five of them. Especially Natsu."

"Is Natsu okay?" asked Lucy, looking perturbed.

"What happened to him?" continued Wendy.

"We can go see him, right?" insisted Erza.

Gray glared at them. "Not right now," he ground out.

"But he's our friend," asserted Lucy.

"We do have a right to know what's going on, Gray," persisted Erza.

Gray growled in frustration. "Look, I know everyone cares about him, and you're doing your part to help him with all this research. But why the hell is he hearing voices while he's awake and seeing things? Why does he keep…zoning out?" he roared.

"Was it only one voice or multiple voices?" asked Lucy.

Gray thought for a moment. "One, I think. Why?"

Happy sighed in relief for a minute, but then grew concerned. "Um…how did he react to hearing the voice?"

"What do you think? He freaked out when I said I couldn't hear it. He practically tore up the bathroom looking for the damn source of that voice."

Happy looked puzzled. "He doesn't remember?" he muttered. "Why doesn't he remember?" Out of all the dragon-slayers, he thought at least Natsu would remember his waking dreams.

"Remember what?" Gray inquired.

"Did he say what the voice sounded like?" he asked.

Gray grew angry again. "No! He didn't say what the damn voice sounded like. Now, what the hell is going on?"

"Gray?" Porlyusica had entered the guild. "A word, please?"

Gray's anger dissipated when he saw Porlyusica. They stepped outside of the infirmary, but not before Gray ordered everyone to stay put.

"Well?" Gray asked, standing just outside the doorway. He'd even closed the door so that he could have a little privacy.

"Where do you want me to begin?" Porlyusica sighed.

 _What's that supposed to mean?_ "Just…tell me everything."

"I found that he has a slight bump on his head that looks to be a couple of days old. His chest is quite injured. He has no broken ribs, but they are bruised. I've wrapped them and that will do until he heals. There is also some scarring around his ribs and stomach. He's also suffered a slightly twisted ankle and various scars on his back and thighs. It looks like abuse…mainly due to the fact the marks are in places you wouldn't normally see. They can easily be hidden, or covered by clothing. Other than the wound on his head, that is. The one who did this to him was quite careful." Porlyusica was livid.

 _Natsu, did this entity do this to you?_ "Did he suffer from trauma or something when he was hit on the head?"

"No. Nothing is wrong with him. He hasn't been harmed severely enough to warrant trauma. His memory seems to be intact. I can't say the same for the one who did this to him," she muttered.

"What do you mean his memory is intact?" Gray asked confusedly. But then he realized what Porlyusica had just said. "You _know_ who did this to him?"

Porlyusica was quiet for a moment before responding. "Yes," she answered quietly. "I never should have left that boy as he was," she mumbled.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Gray, angry that he wasn't being told what he wanted to know.

Porlyusica quickly avoided eye contact. In a soft voice she said, "What's his name?" Porlyusica was referring to Natsu.

"Natsu Dragneel," Gray responded, not sure where this was going.

"And what year was he born?" she asked.

"I'm a year older than him, so X767."

Porlyuscia shook her head. "That's not the year he gave me."

"What the hell do you mean? I was in there with him a few minutes ago. He knew who _I_ was."

"I'm aware of that. He remembers everything just fine."

Was she purposely trying to piss Gray off? Because if she was, Porlyusica was succeeding just fine. "Will you just tell me what's going on? Who's been hurting him? And what's all this about the year he was born?"

Porlyusica sighed. "Natsu Dragneel was not born in X767." Gray waited for her to continue, too stunned to talk. "He was born over 400 years ago. The real year of his birth is X360. I saw to him when Makarov brought him to me in X777. I've known him since then. That poor boy was so distressed when Makarov brought him to me. He was hysterical, wild. Natsu seemed to fade in and out of reality, much like he's been doing recently from what you've said. Something must have sent him over the edge again," she finished quietly.

"Wh-"

"I am not going to tell you anymore. It's his story to tell. Take care of him. And keep a close eye on him so that he doesn't hurt himself. But don't push him. His mind's in a delicate state for the time being. He's having a hard time determining what's real and what's not, but I think you'll find that everything he's experiencing, hearing, and seeing is quite real. Can I trust you with that?" It sounded like a warning.

Gray stared at her questioningly but he answered anyway. "Yes. You can trust me. I'll take care of him. Now, who's been hurting him?"

Porlyusica narrowed her eyes angrily as she growled out, "Ankhseram."

Gray's eyes knitted in confusion. "Ankhseram?"

"Yes. That's all I shall say for now. I never should have left Natsu in the state he was in when Makarov found him, but in case I'm wrong, ask him yourself. Will you do that? And protect him if need be?"

More questions circulated through Gray's mind, but he answered, "Yes."

Porlyusica nodded his approval. "All right then. Good night. And be careful. You need to trust him, even if what he's saying doesn't seem real. Trust him." She left, leaving Gray to his thoughts. He was having a hard time processing what he'd just heard.

* * *

 _ **Infirmary (Inside)**_

Natsu watched as Gray entered the room and walked over to him. Taking Natsu's face in his hands, he forced Natsu to make eye contact with him. "Are you all right?" asked Gray.

"I'm fine, Gray. My head's clear again. But I do think we need to talk. We, uh…should discuss a few things. I know you have some questions. I'll answer what I can."

"It sounds like a plan," he replied. They both made themselves comfortable on the bed before they started talking.

"What-" Natsu was cut off by Gray's lips crushing his.

Natsu froze completely and whimpered like he was scared, which was not the reaction Gray was expecting. He pulled away and looked at Natsu uncertainly; it looked like the dragon-slayer was on the verge of crying. What had he done wrong now? Didn't he want this like he did?

"Natsu?" Gray whispered. He reached out to touch him, but he jerked away and pressed himself up against the wall even more. "Natsu. I'm sorry. I thought…never mind," he muttered, backing away from him.

"No. It's not you," he said quietly. "I…I like you. I do, but…" Natsu trailed off as he started to cry.

"Natsu, I like you, too. Very much. This isn't a game to me. I would like to be with you…a part of your life…if you'll let me. I'm sorry I kissed you like that. I thought you wanted it, too," Gray said softly, leaning toward Natsu. "Do…you want to talk about it?" Gray asked unsurely.

Natsu sniffed and shook his head. "No." He stayed silent for a bit while Gray just sat there. "I'm not ready for anything…physical."

"Natsu?" The dragon-slayer raised his head at the sound of Gray's voice to show that he was listening. Gray sighed deeply and prepared himself for what he was about to tell him.

"After my parents died due to Deliora, I was found by Lyon and Master Ur. I got close, too close, but I did something foolish anyway, as you probably remember. I tried taking on Deliora myself, and Master Ur sacrificed herself to save me. I lsot someone I loved again, and I lost someone I'd thought of as a brother in the process," Gray spat out.

"So I pushed everyone away, keeping them at a distance. I started believing that if I got close to someone, they'd die." Gray's voice started to sound hoarse as he fought back tears. He looked down at his hands, his eyes reflecting the raw emotion from the memory he was about to reveal. "And Master Ur's daughter, Ultear, did the same. She sacrificed herself so that I could live. I'm…afraid of getting close to people. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand."

"I…see that." And Natsu did. He understood perfectly about keeping people away, hiding things from them in order to keep them safe. "No one else knows how you feel?"

"No. And I want it to stay that way."

"I understand."

"Will you tell me…you know…" Gray trailed off.

"Not now. I'm…not ready yet."

Gray nodded in understanding. "Can you tell me…who?" he asked slowly.

Natsu turned away from Gray to look out the window. He could see the stars glistening in the sky like diamonds. It looked so peaceful. "The dark entity," he whispered.

"I said _who_."

Natsu swallowed hard. Saying the name would make it real. But he'd promised to be honest. "Ankhseram."

"Was he also the one who gave you those new scars?"

Natsu appeared shocked. "You…saw?"

Gray shook his head. "Porlyusica did. But I did glimpse the ones on your chest. Porlyusica also said that she knew you…when Master Makarov found you. She said you were hysterical. Is that true?"

Natsu sighed tiredly. "I'm not sure I remember anything clearly from...then. Can we talk about this another time? I'm not ready to face my past just yet."

"All right. Another time."

"Thank you for telling me about how you feel. I'll tell you my story, too, when I'm ready. Please be patient with me."

"Don't worry about it. Take your time. I'm a patient person. When you're ready to talk I'll be here."

Something was nagging at Natsu's mind, however. "Why did you kiss me?"

Gray sighed. "I like you," he said earnestly. "Now, how about we get some rest. Tomorrow's a big day."

Natsu was glad for the change of subject, but was shocked when Gray started making himself a little more comfortable on the infirmary bed.

"I'm sleeping here. I promised that I would not let you out of my sight. I said I'd keep an eye on you," said Gray.

"But…fine." He helped Natsu readjust to make himself more comfortable. Settling down, they both looked up at the ceiling.

"Natsu?"

"Hm?" he responded tiredly.

"What happened to you earlier today? It seemed like you weren't all there."

"After what you said to me, I shut down. And then when you insulted me, I just…gave up hope, I guess. It's happened to me a few times before. But I'm over it now."

"Okay." Gray noticed him dozing off. "Natsu?"

"Yes?"

"What does Happy know that you're not telling me?"

Natsu thought for a moment. "My dreams. Nightmares, really."

"Your nightmares? I didn't know you were having nightmares. Why is Happy so…obsessed with them?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me," he said mysteriously. "I have…dreams…nightmares about the past. I think Happy guessed that it was the reason I was hearing voices. You told him I was hearing voices, right?"

"Yes. Was he right?"

"Maybe. But everything's fine now."

"Will you tell me about these dreams sometime?"

"Um…okay. But only if you promise not to interrupt as I tell you."

"Sure," Gray replied.

"Now, can I go to sleep?"

Gray laughed at the dragon-slayer's plea. "Yeah. Um…Natsu?"

Natsu's eyes snapped open and he glared at him. "Gray, I'm really tired and I want to go to sleep. What is it?"

"Were you really born in X360?" Gray asked, rolling onto his side to look at him.

Natsu seemed surprised. "How did you-"

"Porlyusica told me."

"Oh," Natsu said quietly. He thought about it for a moment before replying. "Yes, but that can only be between us. For now. I'll explain…later."

"Thank you."

Natsu slowly drifted off to sleep. When Gray heard him snoring softly, he whispered, "Good night, Natsu…my love." Soon, Gray drifted off to sleep as well.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

Natsu woke to the sun shining through the window. He stretched and yawned, laying flat on his back against the pillows. Turning his head to the left, he noticed that Gray was still asleep. Natsu laughed to himself when Gray's mouth parted slightly and a light snore came out. _He's so cute like that._

Gray turned over in his sleep and was now facing Natsu. Seeing Gray's peaceful face gave Natsu an evil idea. He leaned over cautiously and lightly tickled the ice mage's nose with his finger. Gray scrunched up his nose and wiggled it. Natsu silently laughed to himself, tickling his nose once more. This time, Gray swatted at his own nose, which only made him slap himself in the face. Jolting at his own action, Gray's eyes shot open. He glared at Natsu menacingly.

"What? I didn't do it!" Natsu insisted, smiling playfully. His smile faded though when Gray lunged at him.

Straddling Natsu's hips, Gray placed his hands on the sides of Natsu's head and looked down at him with a mischievous smirk on his face. "Bad dragon," he said. "What should I do to discipline you? Hm?"

Natsu gulped. He'd never known Gray to be…playful before. "Um…how about you let the dragon go?" he offered innocently.

"No. I know a fitting punishment for the dragon."

"What are you doing?" Natsu exclaimed when he felt Gray's hands run up and down his sides. Natsu started laughing uncontrollably. Gray started laughing too as he tickled Natsu mercilessly.

"Haha…p-please s-s-stop," Natsu pleaded. Gray relented and let him up. They smiled at each other. After a moment's silence, Natsu said, "I was thinking about what you said yesterday."

Gray's smile faded as his expression grew grim. "What about it?"

"I think we should give it a try. Us, I mean. If you still want to, that is," he said, light pink dusting his cheeks.

Gray smirked at the blushing dragon-slayer. "Oh, I still want to," he said huskily. "And I'll give you all the time you need. There's no need to rush things. We have our whole lives ahead of us."

"Thank you, Gray," he sighed and Gray found himself with an armful of Natsu. He hugged Natsu back and grinned as he took in his scent. _He smells like cinnamon._

Natsu let go and leaned back. "Can you stay still please? I want to try something."

Gray raised his eyebrow at Natsu's request. "Is this something going to hurt?"

"No," Natsu replied, contradicting himself by lightly smacking Gray on the arm. "Just stay really still."

"Fine." Gray's eyes widened when Natsu leaned in toward his face, an impish grin playing on his lips.

"Just…stay…very…still," he muttered against Gray's lips, but he didn't kiss him. Natsu's lips rested against Gray's, tickling them with his breath. He slowly rubbed his lips back and forth against Gray's, eliciting a sharp intake of breath on the ice mage's part.

 _How the hell does he expect me not to do anything when he's teasing me like this?_ Gray exclaimed in his head. He almost groaned aloud at the loss of contact when Natsu pulled away from him. He wanted the dragon-slayer to kiss him, but he knew he couldn't ask that of Natsu. Not yet, anyway. Looking at Natsu's face, he was about to say something when he noticed the dragon-slayer's eyes fixated on his lips.

Natsu's eyes darted up to meet Gray's. He smirked at him, and before he could react, Natsu's lips met his. He timidly moved his lips gently against Gray's. Although he was clumsy, it felt, simply put, good. He pulled back. "You can kiss back, you know."

"I thought I was supposed to stay still."

"Gray," Natsu whined.

"Oh. So I'm allowed to move now?" Gray questioned with a smirk.

"Jerk," Natsu said before their lips met again. This time they both relaxed when Gray took over the kiss. Deciding to take it a step further, Gray gently tugged at Natsu's bottom lip, nipping at it slightly with his teeth. When he heard, and felt, Natsu gasp, he continued. Gray tenderly pushed his tongue into Natsu's open mouth and then pulled back, looking into Natsu's eyes questioningly.

Natsu melted when he felt Gray prod his mouth. He was brought out of his stupor when Gray stopped. He opened his eyes. When had they closed? Gray was staring at him. _Why'd he stop? Oh. He's not sure if he should continue. Well, here's my answer._ Natsu grabbed the back of Gray's head and pulled him in for another kiss.

Gray smiled when the dragon-slayer kissed him again. He felt Natsu shyly prod past his lips with his tongue, trying to pry his mouth open. And he granted Natsu access.

Natsu was stunned when Gray opened his mouth, allowing him to explore the depths of his hot cavern. He timidly explored Gray's mouth, mapping out every crevice; he tasted like ice cream in summer. Then their tongues met in a fierce battle. They fought back and forth until Gray overpowered him, shoving his eager tongue into Natsu's mouth, leaving no space untouched. Gray aggressively yet compassionately kissed him with all his might, drawing Natsu's tongue back into his mouth and sucking on it fervently. When they both needed air, they broke away.

They panted as they looked at each other.

"Wow," Natsu wheezed, a dark blush staining his cheeks.

"Yeah. Wow," Gray agreed in a similar manner.

"Wh-" Natsu was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Gray and Natsu scrambled from the bed and tried to reassemble themselves. "Who is it?"

"It's Happy. Mira says it's time for brekafast," happy called from behind the closed door.

"Okay. We'll be right there," said Gray.

"Okay. See you at breakfast." They heard Happy leave and then they looked at each other.

Gray approached Natsu and he regarded the ice mage uneasily. "Um, Gray?"

"Yes, Natsu?"

"Can we keep this—us—a secret for now? I really want to take things slow and I don't want to have to deal with everyone else knowing just yet."

"I understand completely," Gray said, jerking him into a swift hug. "Let's go get some breakfast before everyone else eats it all."

Natsu smiled in response.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium (Arena)**_

"Welcome to the Magnolia Stadium!" said the overenthusiastic announcer to the excited crowd. "Today we will commence with the beginning of Grand Magic Games! Will our twenty-six guilds please come down to the arena?"

All contestants stood in the middle of the arena awaiting the next statement.

"Great! Now that you're all present, we'll begin," continued the announcer. A few guilds groaned, wanting him to get on with it. "It's time to activate the archive-magic database." The announcer walked over to a large lacrima system with monitors on each corner of the arena. He pressed a button that brought the machine to life and selected the 'Guild Selection' feature on the screen followed by 'Compeition Selection.'

"Now, this database will select six guilds, making a total of three competitions this time. After the paired guilds are selected, the competition they will be competing in shall be announced as well," said the announcer. "Are we ready?" The guilds nodded. The announcer activated the program for the selection process.

"GUILD NUMBER ONE...TWILIGHT OGRE," said the archive. "GUILD NUMBER TWO….QUATRO CERBERUS….COMPETITION….OBSTACLE COURSE."

"All right! So our first competition will be Twilight Oger vs. Quatro Cerberus in the Obstacle Course! Let's give a round of applause for our competitors!"

"GUILD NUMBER THREE...CRIME SORCIERE," said the archive. "GUILD NUMBER FOUR….DARK UNICORN….COMPETITION….WATER BALLOON TOSS."

"Wonderful! Our second competition will be Crime Sorciere vs. Dark Unicorn in the Water Balloon Toss. Let's give them a hand!"

"GUILD NUMBER FIVE...PHOENIX GRAVE," said the archive. "GUILD NUMBER SIX….DWARF GEAR….COMPETITION….SACK RACE."

"Fantastic! Our third and final competition of the day will be Phoenix Grave vs. Dwarf Gear in the Sack Race. Give it up for our competitors!"

The audience gave a loud round of applause, whistling and cheering.

"Now. Let's have our first two guilds have at it. Twilight Ogre! Quatro Cerberus! Step on up!" Everyone else left the arena floor and headed toward their seats in the stadium. Everyone sat down and waited for the first competition to begin.

Suddenly the floor rumbled and opened. A large platform rose from beneath the disappearing floor, securing itself between the two guilds. It was an obstacle course of magic design.

"All right competitors! Step on up!" cried the announcer. "Please select four members to proceed through the course!"

* * *

 _ **Twilight Ogre vs. Quatro Cerberus – Obstacle Course**_

Both guilds quickly observed the so-called obstacle course. To them, it just looked like a flat platform; there were no obstacles. Perhaps they activated during the competition?

Once each guild selected their four members, King Fiore made an announcement. "The first guild to successfully send all four members through the Obstacle Course wins. However, only one member can complete the course at a time. The use of magic is forbidden. This is a test of intelligence.

"May the best guild win!"

Thibault from Twilight Ogre and Rocker from Quatro Cerberus stepped up to the platform. As soon as they proceeded to the course, runes activated, creating the plethora of obstacles they now saw before them.

Ladders, garbage cans, and even old lounge chairs littered the arena. It looked like a death trap with all they had to crawl over, under, around, and through.

And a death trap is was for Thibault. Not one minute in and he'd already gotten stuck in an old lounge chair that had decided to latch onto his foot. It wouldn't seem to let go.

Rocker, Warcry, and Nobarly had made it through the Obstacle Course before Thibault broke free of the chair. Once he was finally up and running, much to his guild's relief, he found Bacchus of Quatro Cerberus hot on his heels. Who knew that drunken bastard could move so fast?

Well, maybe too fast.

Thibault screamed as he found himself drunkenly shoved into another old lounge chair, which had decided that his head would be its next victim.

"And there you have it ladies and gentlemen. The winner of the first completion is Quatro Cerberus!

"Now. Let's have our second two guilds have at it. Crime Sorciere! Dark Unicorn! Step on up!" The next two guilds entered the arena.

Again, the arena shifted itself.

King Fiore now spoke. "The Grand Magic Games are about being outside in the fresh air and hot sunshine, making water-themed events a must! For this competition, we will have the guilds pair their members off—only two pairs—and line up about six feet away from one another. First, pairs toss their balloon and those who do not drop their balloons stay in the competition, taking two steps back to increase the distance from one another at each round. We will continue until there is only one team left."

"All right competitors! You heard the man! Step on up!" cried the announcer. "Please select your two pairs for the competition!"

* * *

 _ **Crime Sorciere vs. Dark Unicorn – Water Balloon Toss**_

"And now let's have our next pairs step up to the center of the arena," called the announcer. "We have Meredy and Sorano, and Cobra and Racer from Crime Sorciere! And…well, two different pairs from Dark Unicorn. They all look the same, so I'm not sure who is who.

"Also! I've just received word from King Fiore himself that magic is allowed in this competition. I repeat! Magic is allowed! Let's begin!"

Cobra smirked as he listened in on Racer's thoughts. This was going to be good.

"EEK!" shrieked Sorano, who was now drenched from the water balloon popping. "You're going to pay for that, Meredy!"

"You were supposed to catch it!" Meredy yelled back.

"It seems our first pair—from Crime Sorciere—has been eliminated!" cried the announcer.

Cobra turned his attention back to Racer, giving him a quick nod to signal the mage into making his move. As Cobra tossed the water balloon, Racer zoomed to the first Dark Unicorn pair and popped their balloon, coming back to his own partner just in time to catch the balloon.

"And the first pair from Dark Unicorn is out! It's now down to two! Please spread out! Last dry team wins!"

After catching on that they could use magic, the members of Dark Unicorn utilized their own magic to make a tiny magical barrier around them so that Racer couldn't interfere. Cobra kept listening to their thoughts, hoping to find an opening. But it seemed favor was on their side.

With several minutes going by, and increasing the distance between themselves, Dark Unicorn became erratic with their throws. Which was all Cobra needed as his opening. A distraction was in order.

Just as one of the members of Dark Unicorn was about to throw the water balloon, Cobra used his Sound Magic as a distraction. He watched in amusement as the water balloon was thrown way off course, with the other Dark Unicorn member racing to catch it; however, having your hair pointed in such a manner did no one any favors.

"I can't believe it! The water balloon popped on the mage's hair! Crime Sorciere wins! Congratulations! Okay now let's have everyone clear the arena for the next and final competition of the day."

"Now. Let's have our third two guilds have at it. Phoenix Grave! Dwarf Gear! Step on up!" The next two guilds entered the arena.

Again, the arena shifted itself.

King Fiore spoke once again. "It is now time for the Sack Race. For this competition, each guild will select one mage. That mage will then select a magically imbued burlap sack from the crate in front of them. Competitors will place both feet inside the burlap sack and hop to the finish line at the end of the arena. The first one to reach the finish line wins."

"All right Phoenix Grave and Dwarf Gear! You heard his majesty! Let the Magic Sack Race begin!" cried the announcer. "Please select your representative for the game!"

* * *

 _ **Phoenix Grave vs. Dwarf Gear – Sack Race**_

No one really knew what to expect from the Sack Race. It was a bit unnerving when King Fiore said the burlap sack were magical. The opponents from both guilds hesitantly picked up a sack and walked over to the starting line. The sacks felt like regular old sacks.

Stepping into them, they waited for the starting signal.

"On your marks! Get set! Go!"

The member from Phoenix Grave began right away. He jumped. And launched straight up into the air and out of sight.

"Oh, my goodness! It's seems that our person from Phoenix Grave has selected the anti-gravity sack! Who knows when he'll come down?!"

The member from Dwarf Gear stared up at the sky, jaw hanging open. Just what the hell competition was this? Steeling himself for the worst, he gripped the burlap sack, and jumped.

He fell over, barely moving an inch.

"Uh, oh! It seems our Dwarf Gear competitor has selected the over-encumbered sack! Will he be able to move at all?"

The Dwarf Gear member raised himself a little bit. All he had to do was make it to the finish line, right?

"Oh, my! It looks like he's dragging himself to the finish line. There are no rules against that!"

Grinning since he was nearly there, his almost stopped when he heard screaming and witnessed people pointing at the sky.

"Wow! It looks like our Phoenix Grave member has returned from above! Get ready for an impact!"

The Phoenix Grave member screamed as he came hurtling back into the arena and crashed across the finish line. Curse this competition!

"We have our winner! Phoenix Grave has won the Sack Race! Dwarf Gear is out! Great job! It was kind of close there.

"All right, everyone! That's it for today. The next round of competitions will resume tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the activities that are going on until then. Bye!" the announcer exclaimed.

"I can't believe the types of competitions we're being subjected to!" whined Lucy.

"Hm. Makes you wonder what goes on in that King's head," laughed Natsu.

"I agree," replied Gray. "We should all head out. Maybe come up with a game plan."

"Okay. Let's go," Natsu said.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

"I don't think I can walk," Natsu said tiredly, tenderly collapsing on Gray's couch. They hadn't realized they had so many fans. They'd run all over the city trying to get away from them.

"You! At least your fans weren't trying to…strip you!" Gray shouted. "Do you know how many people clawed at my clothes? I thought I was gonna die! They were worse than Juvia."

"Gray, I really don't want to hear about other people stripping you. I'm probably making it worse in my head than what really happened," Natsu groaned, trying to wipe the unwanted images from his mind. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Okay," said Gray turning to leave, but Natsu's hand shot out to stop him. "Yes?"

"Can we talk later?" Natsu looked at him hopefully.

"Sure. We can talk later. What about?"

"My past. I think, no…I need to tell you what happened. I want to talk…privately."

"We can talk in my bedroom."

"Okay. We'll talk later."

"All right," Gray said, quickly planting a light kiss on Natsu's head. "Go take your shower. I'll be waiting."

* * *

"Are you ready to talk now?" asked Gray when Natsu stepped out of the bathroom.

"Yeah. Just let me change first."

Natsu found his bag next to Gray's bed, grabbed it, and pulled out some clothing. He headed for the bathroom. Gray decided to change as well, considering what remained of his clothes.

He'd just finished changing when Natsu came back. Gray walked over to the dragon-slayer and pulled him into a hug. Lifting Natsu's chin, he kissed him lightly on the lips. "Where do you want to talk? On the bed? It's up to you."

"Um…I think I want to stay in here. We can talk on the bed."

"Sure," Gray replied. He headed for the bed and pulled back the covers. Beckoning Natsu over, they both laid in the bed, pulling the covers over themselves. Gray pulled Natsu into his arms. "You can start whenever you're ready," he said reassuringly.

"Okay. I think I want to talk about the year I was born first. I don't really remember all that much. It's just something that…flashes in my head. And I remember my…time before Igneel."

Gray nudged him when he paused. "What before Igneel?"

"I think I remember my…mother. What she looked like. She had dark eyes and dark hair. I don't remember her name, but I do remember that she was really sweet, kind, and soft-spoken," replied Natsu.

Gray frowned as it seemed the dragon-slayer became lost in his thoughts. That still didn't explain his birth year. Did Natsu even know the reason for that?

"I think I had…a father, too. I…looked like him. And I had…a brother? He was…like our mother?" Natsu tried to hold onto the images that flashes through his mind, but they were just too quick.

"But then something happened. To this day, I always thought it was something from my imagination, a bad dream. But after _seeing_ it in my head for so long, I think it was really something else. Something…dark." Natsu swallowed hard, the painful memory of his mother's death coming to the surface.

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

" _Mommy? Mommy where are you?" called the seven-year-old Natsu. He wasn't sure where he was. He recognized the location, but it had dark smoke coming from it. The large trees even looked…threatening as they burned._

 _It was so quiet._

" _Mommy's not coming," answered a male from behind him. Natsu spun around and saw his father. The person who looked like him. That's all anyone ever said._

" _Where's Mommy? Where's big brother?_ _"_

 _His father laughed._

" _Where are they?" Natsu repeated._

 _His father just stood there grinning._

" _Where is everyone? Why is everything burning?" he asked innocently._

 _His father laughed again. It was quite eerie. Natsu felt a chill go down his spine._

" _Everything's burning because I made it burn," declared his father. "But I made sure to save you."_

" _What?" Natsu asked._

" _You're just like me," answered his father. "You do want to be like your father, don't you?"_

" _No. I want Mommy."_

" _Be like me and I'll take you back to her," said his father._

 _Natsu thought about this for a moment before giving in. "Okay. What do I have to do?"_

 _His father grinned evilly. Suddenly, hot flames erupted from the ground, wrapping themselves around Natsu's wrists and ankles. He struggled against them but they just grew tighter; however, they didn't burn._

" _What's going on?" he cried._

" _I'm showing you what it's like to be me," began his father._ " _Your body will be consumes by these flames and we'll be the same."_

 _Natsu's eyes widened in fear. "Please let me go."_

" _I'm afraid it's too late for that now," said his father._ " _You already agreed to this. Shall we begin?"_ _He_ _clasped his hands together and started chanting. "I call upon the one of flame, so I may do his bidding. Let him arise and take this boy, so that he can do the same. Come forth God of fire!"_

 _A bright light shot up from the surrounding area and a form developed in the sky. Slowly coming down, it landed where Natsu and his father stood._

 _His father had summoned a Fire God. Natsu's mother had told him of the Elemental Gods, and she said they were dangerous and nearly impossible to control. You had to be really strong to control these beings. He gulped when he looked at the Fire God. He was big. His body was enveloped in flames, taking on a draconic appearance._

 _Natsu struggled against the flames once more, but they wouldn't release him._

" _Here is you sacrifice," announced his father._ " _Take him now."_

 _Sacrifice?_

 _The Fire God approached Natsu and reached out for him. This was it._

" _Stop this at once!" a woman's voice ordered. The Fire God turned as someone stepped out of the smoke._

" _Mommy!" cried Natsu, tears in his eyes. His mother had come for him._

" _Release him," she said. The flames let go of Natsu and receded into the ground. Free, he ran into his mother's arms. She hugged him tightly and kissed him on the forehead. Letting him go, she approached the Fire God. "Go back to where you came from." But the Fire God stood there and did nothing._

" _He won't listen to you," said his father._ " _The Fire God_ _is under my control."_

 _Natsu's mother noticed her husband for the first time. "You did this?" She looked stunned. "Send him back before it's too late."_

" _I can't do that. He needs a sacrifice," said Natsu's father._ " _And that sacrifice…is our youngest son."_

 _Natsu's mother gasped and eyed the Fire God. Lowering her head in defeat, she knew what she had to do. "Natsu?"_

" _Mommy?" he raised his head in response._

" _I love you, Natsu. With all my heart. You are most precious to me," she said, pulling him into another tight hug and kissing him on both cheeks. Tears were streaming down her face. "Do you love me?"_

" _Mommy? Yes, Mommy. I love you," he answered. Natsu didn't know why she was crying._

 _She smiled. "Then I'll always be with you…here," she said, placing her hand over his heart. "Find your brother. He'll take care of you."_

 _She stepped away from him and ran toward the Fire God. Grabbing the Fire God, she chanted something he couldn't hear._

 _Natsu watched in horror as he saw both his mother, father, and the Fire God engulfed in flames._

" _Mommy!"_

" _I love you, Natsu! And I'll always be with you!"_

 _ **End Flashback**_

* * *

"Everything went black after that. I woke up with Igneel knowing my parents were dead. I don't know what happened to my brother. I wasn't sure what happened. I just remember screaming about some monster burning my parents alive." Natsu broke off and started crying.

Gray pulled Natsu closer to him and let him cry. Natsu finally calmed down and continued his story.

"After spending time with Igneel, everything from my past just faded until it felt like a dream. And then Igneel disappeared July 7, X777. But I knew something was off. I think…it had to do with the Dragon Ceremony.

"All I know is that when Master Makarov found me, I was a mess. Everything smelled weird, everyone spoke a language I didn't understand, read symbols that meant nothing to me, and my mind was a jumbled mess. He took me to Porlyusica and she did something so that I could understand everyone and speak for myself.

"My mind got fuzzy again. But that was when the nightmares started and… _he_ came."

"Who's…he?" asked Gray.

"Ankhseram," whispered Natsu, his eyes dilating. "He showed up in my dreams, and he was furious with me. He said it was my fault. Over and over again, he said it was my fault. In order to escape my thoughts, I fought, went on missions, and exhausted myself so that I wouldn't have to hear him. But then the pain started."

Natsu began staring off into space, as if seeing what had taken place once again. "That's when the pain started," Natsu said quietly. "Just before Lucy joined the guild, when I came back home, he hurt me. It was the first time he hurt me. Ankhseram started screaming in my head, saying it was my fault that the world was in disarray, but he would make sure that he set it right.

"Every single day he would flash pain through my entire body. After a while, I got used to the pain; it…became a routine."

At this point, Natsu began crying. After a while, Gray spoke up. "Natsu? I still don't understand who Ankhseram is."

Natsu vigorously wiped at his eyes. "Ankhseram…is the God of Life and Death."

"Life…and Death?" Why would a god want to torment Natsu so?

Natsu nodded. "I think he's trying to…punish me."

"Punish you? Why?"

"Because it's my fault!"

"What's your fault?" Gray didn't understand.

Natsu whimpered. "I can't remember. Everything goes black when I try to remember. But I do know that he wants me to die. Ankhseram is the God of Life and Death, so he can't interfere with the natural way of things by giving life or death whenever he wants. But he _wants_ me to die. Of that I'm sure. He can't take my life. I have to do that."

Gray stared at Natsu, letting all of this new information sink in. He didn't understand. He'd be a fool to say that he did. But Natsu dealing with all of this on his own was a horrendous burden.

"Why didn't you tell anyone until now?" he questioned.

Natsu whimpered again. "He wouldn't let me. I don't know why he's letting me now."

Gray pulled Natsu into his arms. "Natsu? Later, we'll talk to Levy and Lucy and see of they can find any information on Ankhseram and this Dragon Ceremony. We need to figure out what's happened, including the bits of your past that you can't remember.

"And let's start fresh, like we're starting our lives over again. Tomorrow, let's start our new lives together."

"You mean…like a clean slate?" Natsu questioned, drying his eyes. Gray nodded. "You mean...forget what happened in the past?"

"No. The past is what makes us who we are. The things in the past did happen. Nothing can change that. What I'm trying to say by starting fresh is that…well, think of it as having a second chance for a life you've always wanted to live. One with family and friends, surrounded by those who care about you…the way that I do you. Think of this as a chance to live your life without being inhibited by the darkness in your heart. Let me be your light to that darkness. Together we'll figure it out." Gray drew Natsu into his arms and lifted his chin.

"Gray?" he asked curiously.

"Natsu Dragneel…I love you." Natsu felt his heart swell with happiness.

"Gray, I love you, too." They shyly leaned in for a kiss, but when their lips met, all shyness vanished in an instant. After their passionate kiss, they broke apart to breathe.

"I really do love you, Natsu."

"Oh, Gray."

Well, that was an interesting tone. He'd never heard Natsu use such an endearing and loving voice before, especially toward him. If he'd been standing, Gray knew his knees would have given out from beneath him. Thank goodness the bed was there. Gray wanted to ravage Natsu's mouth again until he was breathless, until he was sure that Natsu would always be his. Pushing aside his unexpected jumpiness, he prepared himself to kiss Natsu properly.

Gray gently slipped his right hand up Natsu's back and buried it in his silky pink locks. Too roughly in his opinion, when he saw Natsu wince. He flinched along with him.

"It's okay, Gray," Natsu whispered, wrapping his arms around Gray's neck. "My hair's just messy. That's all." Gray didn't think so. His hair was smooth, soft, and tangle-free.

Anyway, he was encouraged by Natsu's statement, so he tenderly cupped the back of the dragon-slayer's head and pulled him into a delicate kiss. When he didn't feel Natsu become rigid or anything, Gray relaxed and closed his eyes, kissing him more determinedly. And they continued kissing, Gray nipping Natsu's lips every now and then. Soon, Gray felt his lower half responding all too quickly to Natsu, but fought it. He didn't want to frighten him.

Growing bolder by the second, Gray tentatively opened his mouth and stroked Natsu's lips with his tongue. Natsu trembled and pulled Gray closer.

Gray parted Natsu's lips with his own and soon gained access to his mouth. Slipping his tongue inside the moist cavern, Gray's heart raced. He could feel Natsu's heart pounding against his chest as well. Wrapping his other arm around Natsu tightly, he pulled him closer, not wanting to let go. He forgot about everything in that moment. All he could think about was Natsu in his arms and trying to get as close to him as humanly possible.

Gray kissed more forcefully and groaned as he did so. Natsu responded by moaning back. He really wanted to invade another little part of Natsu' body, but he knew he couldn't do that just yet. But maybe he would be satisfied with just having Natsu beneath him. Grinning to himself, Gray slowly eased Natsu onto his back, not once breaking from their intense kiss.

* * *

Natsu went to the bathroom door and knocked lightly when he heard the water shut off.

"Come in," Gray called.

Natsu didn't know what to do after their heated kissing—and Gray's accident—so he just opened the door. He noticed that Gray was still in the shower, but he had the curtain drawn so he couldn't see anything. Natsu sat on the counter and listened to Gray washing himself.

"Um…how's your shower?" Natsu asked.

"Nice. But I think it would be better if you were in here with me." Gray peeked from behind the shower curtain and smirked at him. "Do you want to try it out some time?"

Natsu just watched him in shock.

When he was finished, Gray grabbed a large towel and wrapped it around himself as he stepped out of the shower. "Come here," Gray said.

Natsu felt his cheeks go hot. "Why?"

"Because I asked you to."

"No, you didn't. You told me to."

"Just come over here," he snapped.

Natsu hopped off the counter and approached the dripping wet ice mage. His heart pounded as he took in Gray's appearance. His muscles were lustrous and striking, not hulking and awkward. Broad shoulders narrowed downward over gorgeous abs and lean hips.

He next noticed the sight of Gray's hardening groin beneath the towel. He gaped. There was no way in hell that was going to fit anywhere in his person, though the idea had him hardening as well. Maybe he should move on so he wouldn't have to think about that. Legs were safe…weren't they? Natsu's eyes moved onto Gray's beautiful legs. They were smooth, powerful, and firm.

All Gray needed to do now was cover his lower half a little more…discretely and then Natsu would be able to breathe again.

"Are you finished staring, Natsu?" Natsu's head snapped up to see Gray smirking at him. "Do I get a turn now?"

"No, you p-pervert," Natsu stuttered, backing away from Gray and into the counter.

"Me? A pervert? Who was just eye-fucking me a second ago? Hn?" Gray inched closer to Natsu, placing a hand on each side of the counter behind him. His groin was dangerously close to Natsu's. "Well?"

"Well, what?" Natsu stuttered again. He inhaled sharply when Gray leaned forward.

"Do I get a turn?"

Natsu shook his head. "No," he answered quietly, appearing downcast. He averted his eyes. Natsu felt a hand on his chin as he was gently turned to face Gray again.

"Natsu?" Gray's face looked almost…hurt.

"You're…handsome, Gray. I don't want you to see all my…new scars from…him. I'm…ugly."

"Natsu? You're wrong. Please listen to me when I say this. You are perfect. You are beautiful. More so than you can ever imagine. When I say I love you, I love every part of you. Mind, body, and soul. Every comment that you make, every freckle and scar, every little thing you do, I love every part of you. I truly love you, Natsu, and nothing can change that. What I feel for you is sincere. And if you don't want me to see you yet, I respect that because I respect you. I'll give you all the time in the world, my heart, and my love. All I ask in return is that you give me yours. I love you," Gray said sincerely.

Natsu threw his arms around Gray and hugged him tightly, taking him by surprise. But he soon hugged Natsu in return, a smile on his face. "I love you, too, Gray. I have for a long time. And thank you. You'll always have my love and my heart."

Natsu laughed when Gray twirled him around in the bathroom but soon scrambled away from him and out the door when he stopped.

What was that all about? And where was that breeze coming from? Gray's eyes widened in realization as he looked down. His towel lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.

* * *

"Stop laughing," Gray growled as he came out of the bathroom, covered this time.

Natsu walked up to Gray and planted a small kiss on his nose. "I'm sorry. It's just…that wasn't something I expected to happen to you," he laughed.

Gray growled again.

"Aw, Gray. Don't be like that. I'm sorry for laughing. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't see anything. I just hightailed it out of there when I saw the towel falling."

Gray's cheeks flared red. They grew even darker when Natsu turned his adorable eyes on him. "Am I forgiven for laughing at you, Gray?" he asked affectionately.

"Yes, Natsu. You are forgiven," he said, pulling Natsu against him. "If it had happened to you, I probably would have done the same thing…minus running off, of course." Gray reached down and gave Natsu's ass a light squeeze.

Natsu held in a surprised yelp. "Stop it!" he hissed.

That ruined his mood. "I suppose we should go to bed now?"

"I guess. Gray?"

"Yes, Natsu?"

"Tomorrow, if can we…never mind. It's stupid." Natsu headed for the bed, hoping to forget he'd ever thought of it in the first place, but a hand stopped him.

"Natsu? Come here. What did you want to do tomorrow?" Gray asked earnestly. He really wanted to know what Natsu wanted to do, but he also wanted to know why he was afraid to ask. When Natsu still didn't reply, he decided to wash away any doubts he had. "You don't have to be afraid of asking me for anything. What do you want to do?"

Natsu looked up at Gray hopefully but he still sounded shy when he asked. "Can we take Happy to the carnival that's going on during the Grand Magic Games tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, Gray." Natsu latched himself onto Gray and squeezed.

"Natsu? Can't…breathe."

"Oh! Sorry." Natsu released him from his death grip.

"No worries. Now let's go to bed. Tomorrow will most likely be a big day. We'll spend the morning at the carnival and the afternoon with the next set of competitions. Deal?"

Natsu laughed. "Deal."

"Okay. How about we seal it with a kiss?" Gray smirked.

"A kiss, huh?" Natsu whispered huskily as he trailed his hand from Gray's abs to his chest. Leaning up to him, their lips met in a passionate kiss.

"Let's go to bed," said Gray. Natsu nodded and crawled into the bed, Gray getting in behind him. Wrapping an arm around Natsu's waist, he pulled him closer. He smiled when he felt Natsu's hand clasp his own. Gray bent over Natsu's ear and whispered, "I love you, Natsu."

Natsu turned his head to face him. He smiled. "I love you, Gray. Goodnight."

Gray placed alight kiss on his lips. "Goodnight, Natsu."

Soon, they both fell asleep, excited about what they would be doing the following day.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

"So, can we still go to the carnival today?" asked Natsu hopefully.

"Yes. I said we'd go. Let's find Happy and we'll head out soon."

"Okay."

They left the bedroom and headed for the kitchen. They found Happy looking quite perplexed.

"Um, what's wrong Happy?" Natsu asked.

"I've been traumatized," Happy replied emotionlessly.

That got Gray's attention. "What do you mean?"

"Remember how you said I couldn't eat fish for a week?" Happy continued.

Natsu closed his eyes and sighed, dreading what was coming next. "Yes," he said reluctantly.

"It was everywhere," Happy said suddenly.

"What was everywhere?" Natsu wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"It was on the floor…the walls…the shower…everything. So much fishies…swimming…everywhere…" Happy grew more and more hysterical with each word.

So…Gray slapped him.

"What was that for?" Happy screamed.

"I was trying to snap you out of it! Would you care to explain what you mean?"

Happy stared at Gray and Natsu. "I see fish everywhere."

Gray leaned toward Natsu's ear. "Is he saying he's hallucinating?"

"Oh, no," Natsu groaned. Now he knew what Happy was referring to. Why, oh why, did he have to make 'no eating fish for a week' a punishment? He should have known better. "You know what? Forget the whole no eating fish thing. You've learned your lesson, right?"

Happy nodded his head vigorously.

"Good. Well, we're all going to the carnival in a little bit, so-"

"Really? A carnival?" Happy exclaimed.

"Yes. Should we get going?" Natsu said. Happy practically ran to the front door. Natsu laughed. He turned to look at Gray, who had a deep frown on his face. "What's wrong?"

"I just realized something. Those _fans_ might be there," Gray spat.

"It's fine. I'll protect you."

Gray appeared contemplative. "You sure about that?"

"Of course I'm sure. Now, let's go to the carnival, Gray." Pulling on his hand, they followed the overenthusiastic Exceed.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Carnival**_

"Great. We lost him," Gray growled, searching the bustling crowd.

"No we didn't. Happy is raiding the carnival games," Natsu replied.

"How the hell do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Know where he is. I can't even see him."

Natsu smirked. "It's a gift," he said.

"And a curse?"

"Funny."

"Hey!" shouted Happy as he raced over to them. "Play games with me!"

"Okay. What do you wanna play?" asked natsu

"That one." Happy pointed to a complex looking carnival game. It had rings of numerous sizes suspended by strings, making the rings twirl ever so slightly. Past the rings was a large wall with inflated balloons hanging from it. The point of the game was to throw the darts and hit the balloons, but the strings of rings made it virtually impossible to win.

"Are you sure you want to play that one?" Gray questioned skeptically. "Because I don't think-"

"Let him play, Happy," Natsu interrupted.

"Fine. Let's go," he sighed.

"What do we have here?" said the game vendor as they wandered over.

"We wanna play!" Happy stated.

Gray eyed the vendor warily. The vendor handed Happy three darts and moved off to the side.

"What do I get when I win?" Happy asked.

The vendor chuckled. "Well, aren't you a confident one. _If_ you win, you'll get that," he said, indicating a giant box that had a picture of a blue fish on the front. "You gotta pop three balloons though. But no one's ever won. Let alone hit a balloon." He laughed again.

Happy narrowed his eyes at the vendor. With a determined look on his face, Happy took a dart. He pulled his arm back and threw the first dart. It miraculously flew threw a suspended ring and hit a balloon. The vendor looked at the Exceed in shock…as well as Gray.

The next two darts followed suit. That was it. Happy had won.

"Yeah! I did it! I won!" Happy cried, jumping up and down.

"How did he do that?" Gray asked Natsu.

"He doesn't like to lose," he laughed in response. "Especially if fish are involved."

* * *

 _ **Gray's Apartment**_

Happy had been far too excited to get his mechanical fish out than to do anything else at the carnival; he'd never had one before. So everyone had eaten something there, played a few more games, and then gone back to the apartment.

Currently, Gray and Happy sat on the living room floor, the box with the fish lay opened in front of them. Little did they know they had to build it themselves. Natsu sat back on the couch, watching the two of them amusedly.

Gray was staring angrily at the manual. It had a picture of the completed fish with numerous letters and numbers for the pieces. In his opinion, it didn't make any sense.

Happy just kept handing him pieces. It was kind of funny seeing Gray and Happy putting a fish together, but it was nowhere near looking like one.

A knock on the door sounded, so Natsu got up from his seat and opened the front door. Lucy and Erza came inside, but paused almost immediately.

"Natsu? What're they doing?" asked Erza.

"They're trying to build a fish Happy won at the carnival," Natsu laughed. Gray heard and glared at them.

"What's that? Gray's trying to build a fish? This I have to see. I'm going to make some popcorn," announced Lucy. Soon, the room was filled with Lucy munching on a bowl of popcorn, Erza watching in awe, and Natsu laughing maniacally while Gray built the stupid fish.

After another hour, Happy had given up and fallen asleep on the floor. Soon, Natsu noticed Gray had sprawled himself out on the floor, the completed fish resting next to him.

"I see you finished," Natsu said, walking over to him.

"Finally."

"Um…are you supposed to have extra pieces?" Natsu questioned.

"Yes! There are always extra pieces in these things!"

"If you say so," Natsu mumbled, not sure if he should let Happy play with the fish or not. "Do you want anything to eat?"

That got his attention. He rose from the ground like a zombie and groaned, "Food."

Natsu laughed as he grabbed onto Gray's arm and led him to the kitchen. He started preparing Gray a meal and then brought it to him.

"Oh! Lucy and Erza said that three more competitions will occur this afternoon. We have to be at the arena by 2:00."

"We have plenty of time," Gray replied thoughtfully, munching on his sandwich.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium**_

"Hey, Gray. Can I talk to you for a second?"

Gray turned, only to find himself facing Sting. He narrowed his eyes in irritation. "What do you want, Sting?"

Sting closed his eyes and sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for my little spat with Natsu before. I apologized to him already for. We always have our ups and downs. But I did have a good reason for it."

Gray eyed him strangely. Why was Sting acting so sincere? "What are you getting at, Sting?" he deadpanned.

Sting seemed like he was struggling for the right words. "Do you like Natsu?" he blurted out. "More…than you would…a friend?"

Gray's eyes widened for a moment. "Why?" he snapped.

"Because…Natsu likes you. A lot. I kind of figured he did, so that's why tried to ruffle your feathers a bit with the whole Exceeds not eating fish thing. I wanted to see your response."

"And you would do that because?"

"Gray," Sting sighed exasperatedly. "Do you like Natsu or not?" he asked abruptly.

"Yes," he whispered in response, averting his eyes. There was something in Sting's tone that forced him to respond.

"Good."

Gray was stunned. "Good? That's it?"

"I want to make sure neither of you are going to get hurt. To make sure this isn't…unrequited love."

"Why would you care?" Sting asked slowly.

"Like it or not, I have a soft spot for Natsu. I think you two are good for each other. You've both been hurt, I think. How? I'm not sure and I'm not going to ask. That's just the feeling I pick up from the two of you. And I hope you'll be happy together. You and Natsu need to take care of each other," he replied, turning away from Gray.

Gray hadn't realized just how perceptive Sting really was until now. "Sting?"

Sting stopped and turned to face Gray again. "Yeah?"

 _I can't believe I'm going to say this._ "Thanks. And don't tell anyone about me and natsu. We're not ready for that yet."

He smiled. "All right. And you're welcome. Plus, if you ever need to talk or anything, you and Natsu can come see me any time," Sting said, winking at him.

 _What…was that all about?_ Gray thought, thoroughly confused. Their conversation had been awfully strange.

* * *

"Sting!" Natsu growled, advancing on him threateningly. He'd finally sniffed him out. "We need to talk! Now!"

"Okay," Sting replied compliantly. They stepped off to the side, out of everyone's way, to talk.

"What were you talking to Gray about? If it was about our history, then I want you to stay away from him," Natsu warned, glaring at him menacingly.

"Sure."

That was not the response Natsu was expecting. "Huh?"

"I already spoke with Gray, but not about what it is you're thinking. He said he really likes you and I know you feel the same way about him. As I already told him, I just want to make sure this isn't unrequited love," Sting answered seriously.

"I'm confused. Why would you care about that?"

"I wanted to see how strongly you felt for one another. He likes you. You like him. And you're protective of one another."

"But why would you care about that…us?" _What is he up to?_

Sting seemed to grow distant at that point. He looked like he was struggling with something. "You're not as alone as you might think," he answered quietly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go."

As soon as Sting left, Natsu was intercepted by Gray, who hugged tightly. Pulling away, the dragon-slayer looked at him, a bit puzzled.

"Is…everything okay?" Natsu asked unsurely, searching Gray's eyes for some sort of answer.

The ice mage shook his head. "We did this wrong."

"Did what wrong?"

"Our relationship. We went about it wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I spoke with Sting," Gray interrupted. "Not once did I ask you out on a date, give you flowers, have a nice dinner, or even ask you to be my boyfriend. I just took what I got and was happy with it, expecting it to work out."

Natsu started to feel his heart break. _He's rejecting me! After all I shared with him? After all he shared with me?_

"Which is why I'm putting a stop to all this."

 _He's rejecting me. He doesn't want me._

"So…will you be my boyfriend, Natsu? I'm not exactly the best person in the world to have a relationship with. I promise to start taking care of you as I should, listening to you, and loving you. I always want to be with you, Natsu."

Gray was seriously shaking in his boots at this point. He was nervous. How was Natsu going to respond to his…well, sappiness?

"Yes," Natsu said softly.

"What?" Gray replied.

"I said yes, you perverted stripper," Natsu laughed.

"Okay. But-"

Natsu silenced him with a kiss. When they pulled away, both of them were smiling happily.

The dragon-slayer smirked. "You're a hopeless romantic, you know that?"

"Shut up!" Gray snapped, a blush staining his cheeks.

"Oh, don't say that to your boyfriend," Natsu said, a hint of amusement twinkling in his eyes.

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

Natsu crossed his arms and frowned in thought as he awaited the next few competitions to be announced. He was angry with himself because he hadn't _been_ himself. At _all_ lately. Had the last few months being tortured by his darkness—Ankhseram—destroyed who he really was?

The dragon-slayer didn't want to think so. However, he'd been hiding everything from his friends, the people who cared about him. Why had he done that? And whenever someone snapped at him, his mood drastically shifted, and his thoughts ran rampant with the idea that no one cared. Why did those thoughts plague him? He _knew_ everyone cared for him. He _knew_ Gray cared for him.

So why? Was it because of Ankhseram? Was he making him feel this way?

And what had Gray been thinking about this the whole time? If he was waiting for Natsu to snap out of it and be himself, that man had some intense patience.

Natsu clenched his fists at his sides, anger consuming him. He _hated_ feeling like this. He was tired of being some fucking damsel in distress. That wasn't him! He didn't want it to be like that at all!

His thoughts drifted back to what Gray had said about having a fresh start, a clean slate. An idea struck him. Could it really be that simple?

He remembered when he'd actually spoken _to_ Ankhseram the last time, before he burned down his house. There'd been a spark, a spark of defiance toward Ankhseram. And that had given him the power to hurt him, to break free.

Willpower was what he needed to overcome this. The will to live, the will to love, the will to protect. Maybe it really was that simple.

A grin spread across Natsu's face. He was a fighter. He was a fucking dragon-slayer, and he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Bring it on, Ankhseram," he mumbled under his breath, a new fire in his eyes. He'd let Ankhseram manipulate his thoughts long enough. It was time to fight fire with fire.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium (Arena)**_

"Welcome! This afternoon we'll be having three more competitions! Are we ready for the selection process to begin?" exclaimed the announcer. He was answered by loud applause and cheering. "All right! Let's get started!" The announcer activated the archive and it began announcing guilds and competitions.

"GUILD NUMBER SEVEN….SOUTHERN WOLVES," said the computer. "GUILD NUMBER EIGHT….MERMAID HEEL….COMPETITION…..CHARIOT PULL."

"All right! So our fourth competition will be Southern Wolves vs. Mermaid Heel in the Chariot Pull. Let's give a round of applause for our competitors!"

"GUILD NUMBER NINE….NAKED MUMMY," it said. "GUILD NUMBER TEN….MOUNT ALTANA….COMPETITION….BALL THROW."

"Wonderful! Our fifth competition will be Naked Mummy vs. Mount Altana in the Ball Throw. Let's give them a hand!"

"GUILD NUMBER ELEVEN….OROCHI'S FIN," declared the archive. "GUILD NUMBER TWELVE….HOUND HOLY….COMPETITION….PARACHUTE GAME: POPCORN."

"What the hell kind of a game is that?" questioned Natsu.

"Beats me," replied Gray. "What gets me is why there are so many Dark Guilds competing. Why is that even allowed?"

"Hm," responded Erza. "Do you think King Fiore is up to something?"

"You don't think this will be anything like last year's Grand Magic Games, do you?" asked Lucy, looking nervous.

"If it is," started Natsu, "then we'll just have to beat down anyone who gets in our way."

Gray glanced at the dragon-slayer and tried to smile discretely. It seemed his flamebrain was acting more like his flamebrain again. It was about damn time.

"Fantastic! Our sixth and final competition of the day will be Orochi's Fin vs. Hound Holy in the Parachute Game: Popcorn! Give it up for our guilds!"

The audience roared. It looked like they were going to witness some pretty awesome matches.

"Now. Let's have our first two guilds of the day get started. Southern Wolves! Mermaid Heel! Step on up!"

"Go get them!" Erza shouted encouragingly to Mermaid Heel.

"Squash those princesses!" someone else shouted from the crowd.

Kagura narrowed her eyes at being called a princess. Mermaid Heel was not filled with meek and feeble ladies. They were here to stay.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium (Outside)**_

Zeref stood outside of the Magnolia Stadium, shrouded in a dark cloak, not really paying attention as he carelessly wandered around. Suddenly, he stopped. He wasn't sure why, but he just did.

" _Look!_ " hissed a voice. Zeref whipped his head around, his dark eyes peering at the empty space around him. Perhaps the past 400 hundred years had finally made his mind fade away completely.

"Is someone there?" he asked.

" _Look!_ "the voice hissed again. And this time, Zeref's head was forcibly turned in the direction of a lacrima screen which had been panning the audience from within the stadium. His eyes widened when he saw who was on the screen.

"Natsu!" gasped Zeref. "My…precious Natsu!" He slowly walked forward, his eyes boring holes into the lacrima screen as he witnessed his younger brother cheering in the crowd.

" _Yes! Natsu!_ " agreed the voice, laughing maliciously. " _Go to Natsu! Go to Natsu!_ "

The voice kept edging him on to go to Natsu,' and he was too stunned to even realize there was a disembodied voice speaking to him. Zeref walked toward the entrance of the stadium. "Wait. Natsu's…" he said, head tilted as if he were thinking.

" _Go to Natsu!_ " ordered the voice as a purple light quickly materialized and flew into Zeref's body.

He stiffened momentarily, his eyes flashing as he walked steadily through the door, the purple light planting memories and ideas in Zeref's head.

* * *

 _ **Southern Wolves vs. Mermaid Heel – Chariot Pull**_

The Southern Wolves and Mermaid Heel entered the arena and awaited instructions for the event. Soon enough, King Fiore made an announcement.

"Now for our competition, the Chariot Pull!" started King Fiore. "All members of the chosen guilds are encouraged to participate. Now, the Chariot Pull will be monitored very carefully to make sure there are no chances for accidents.

"First, a large magical vehicle—the chariot—will be set at the starting line with one end of a tug-of-war rope attached to the rear hitch. However, be aware of how the ground is slanted. The chariots are on a slight grade downward opposite the direction it will be pulled, so the chariot cannot roll in the direction of the pullers unless they are pulling.

"There are magical cones set up to mark boundaries to keep others from wandering into the danger area. These boundaries will also be monitored.

"To begin, guilds will get a hold of the rope, but must be behind a safety mark on the rope that ensures the driver of the chariot can see _all_ guild members. On the signal, the guild will pull their chariot from the starting line to the finish line, which is about a distance of fifty feet. The first guild to cross the finish line with their chariot wins!"

"Absolutely fantastic, your majesty!" cried the announcer. "And with that, let's have Southern Wolves and Mermaid Heel take their positions. It looks like everyone wants in on the actions.

"All right! Everyone is in position! Let the Chariot Pull begin!"

"Let's go, ladies!" cried Kagura. "Channel your strength into your core and pull when I say! Ready? Pull! Pull! Pull!"

"Hey, boss," said a Southern Wolves member. "They're movin' it."

"Yeah, and we're stuck. We haven't budged an inch."

The Southern Wolves leader narrowed his eyes at Mermaid Heel. They would _not_ be bested by some meager women. It was that one, the one at the end of the rope givng out orders. _She_ was the one making them look like fools.

"Oh, my! It seems Mermaid Heel has pulled their chariot halfway across the field. Southern Wolves has barely moved a foot!"

Kagura smiled. "Keep it up! We can do this! Keep going!" That is, until she felt herself being tackled to the ground.

"How dare you make fools of Southern Wolves!" screamed Southern Wolves' leader, pinning Kagura to the ground and wrapping his hands around Kagura's neck, strangling her. Screams sounded in the arena.

Kagura laid there in shock, desperately trying to get the Souther Wolves member to release her neck, but her body was frozen in place. Something was wrong. This wasn't right. Magic was at work here, if the vacant expression in the man's eyes was any indication.

"You! Get off her!" shouted Erza as she rushed into the arena, breaking through the magical barrier, trying to pull him off Kagura. The Southern Wolves member just shoved Erza away roughly, launching her across the ground.

Natsu raced over and ripped the man away from Kagura. Releasing Kagura, he tripped and fell backward, his head smacking onto the ground, rendering him unconscious.

"Kagura!" shouted Erza, racing over to the mage as she took in the air she desperately needed. "Are you all right?" Kagura nodded as she tried to talk. Erza turned a glare at the unconscious man. "I'm going to kill him," Erza growled.

"No! Erza, no! It wasn't what you think," shouted Natsu as the rest of Fairy Tail flooded the main floor of the arena.

"What do you mean it wasn't what I think?" questioned Erza. "He just tried to kill her."

"Something made him do that. I can smell it. I don't know what, and I don't know if it's still there," said Natsu. Suddenly, a dark purple light shot from the Southern Wolves member. The purple light flew out of the Magnolia Stadium.

Erza watched the light disappear cautiously before she shook Southern Wolves member roughly. "Hey, wake up. Hey," Erza called firmly. His eyes opened slowly and he focused on Erza. "Are you all right?"

"Huh? Why am I on the floor? And why the hell does my head hurt?" he exclaimed, sitting up.

"Apparently, you were overtaken by something, for lack of a better explanation," answered Erza quietly. Something strange was going on.

"Overtaken? Like possessed? By what?"

Natsu glanced at him then averted his eyes. "I don't know. And I really wish I did."

Erza sighed and looked at Kagura for a minute before helping her to his feet. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked concernedly.

"I think so."

"So, who won the match?" inquired the Southern Wolves member, rubbing the back of his head as he rose from the ground. This simple question seemed to jolt the announcer into action. Hey, it wasn't everyday that you saw a guild member strangle another one just because they were losing some silly competition.

"And our winner is Mermaid Heel due to a disqualification!" yelled the announcer. This seemed to calm down the freaked out audience as they sat back in their seats, feeling that things were normalizing. "Please return to your seats and we'll get started with…the next competition," he continued, looking quite exhausted. It was turning out to be one hell of a day.

* * *

 _ **Naked Mummy vs. Mount Altana – Ball Throw**_

"Hey, Natsu? I'm going to get something to eat. You want anything?" asked Gray.

"Um, not right now. I'll eat after the matches are over, okay?"

Gray sighed. "All right. I'll be back soon," the ice mage replied as he left.

"And now, let's have our next two guilds step up to the plate," called the announcer. "We have Naked Mummy and Mount Altana!"

King Fiore graced the crowd with his presence. "Our next competition is the Ball Throw. For this event, contestants will be using magically elementized balls. Guilds will select three members to compete in the event. The guild that throws their ball the farthest wins!"

"You heard the man! Let the Ball Throw begin!"

Naked Mummy stepped up first with their three members. The first person took a ball hesitantly. Nothing seemed to happen.

That is, until he got ready to throw it. As soon as he pulled back his arm, the magic kicked in and turned the plain ball into a lightning ball. He barely had time to react before said ball electrocuted him. It fell from his hands and rolled a few inches.

The crowd grew quiet.

"Well, that was quite unexpected," commented the announcer. "Let's have the next member of Naked Mummy step forward."

The two remaining contestants shoved at each other, neither one wanting to go next. After a few minutes of scuffing, the next person stepped up and grabbed a ball. When he drew his arm back, the ball turned to fire. Feeling the heat ensnare his hand, he launched the ball and blew at his fried fingers.

"Whoa! I do believe that ball landed at the sixty foot mark! Greta job! Now let's have our final Naked Mummy member!"

The last person hesitantly grabbed a ball. Shakily, he drew his arm back. When he realized pain neither erupted in his hand or body, he grinned and threw the ball.

But nothing flew out of his hand.

"Would you look at that? I'd say that's a case of bad luck! His ball turned into air!" shouted the announcer. "All right! So the record to beat is sixty feet! Mount Altana, you're up!"

The first member of Mount Altana grabbed a ball, drew back his hand, and threw it with all his might. But with the force of his grip, he hadn't taken into account the elementizing effect. The ball had become earth and crumpled in his firm grip.

The second member grabbed the next ball, proceeding a little more carefully. Thankfully, she recognized the element at work—water—and threw her ball carefully across the field. It also landed at the sixty foot mark.

"So far we have a tie! Can this record be broken?"

The third member smirked and grabbed the next ball, tossing it up in the air and catching it a few times before pulling back his air. A cool sensation graced his hand. Ice. Nice. He threw it at an amazing speed.

"One hundred thirty feet! Mount Altana wins the match! They've won the Ball Throw! Congratulations! Okay, now let's have everyone clear the arena for the next and final competition of the day."

"Well, that was interesting," mumbled Gray as he reappeared behind Natsu, making him jump.

"Stop sneaking up on me," growled Natsu.

"Sorry. You seemed to be lost in thought. Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just…trying to sniff out that thing from earlier."

"What we saw come out of that Southern Wolves member?"

Natsu nodded. "It kind of smelled like…"

"Like?" Gray urged.

"Ankhseram," Natsu stated.

The ice mage inhaled sharply. "You think he'd here? Why is he after you again?"

"He's here…but not. I'm not sure how to explain it. But if he was after me, why'd he do something to the Southern Wolves guild?"

Gray frowned in thought. "You said before that he can only go about the natural order of things, right? And basically he can only commit acts of persuasion. What if he's—I don't know—experimenting?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what if he's trying to take control over people's bodies to see how far he can make them do things?"

Natsu hadn't considered that. "Then why experiment with Southern Wolves?"

"Maybe it's a matter of weakness. In the mind. When we were watching the match, we could see that guy was getting angry. Could Ankhseram possibly channel someone's emotions to make them do things?"

"That's what it always felt like for me," replied Natsu. "Any negative emotion, no matter how small or insignificant, would just fester and grow. So maybe that's what he's doing. But why? To get to me, or for some other purpose?"

"I wish I knew."

* * *

 _ **Orochi's Fin vs. Hound Holy – Parachute Game: Popcorn**_

"Now we have our final two guilds. Orochi's Fin and Hound Holy, who will participating in the Parachute Game: Popcorn. Let's hear from King Fiore."

"For the Parachute Game: Popcorn," began the king, "each guild will stretch out a large piece of fabric held taut. Someone will toss multiple small rubber balls on the fabric. We will see how long each guild can keep their rubber balls popping."

"Like popcorn!" cried the announcer. "We definitely have some interesting events for the Grand Magic Games this year!

Orochi's Fin and Hound Holy approached the center of the arena. Both guilds pulled their fabric taut and awaited the dropping of the rubber balls.

The minute the balls fell down toward the fabric, Orochi's Fin pulled their fabric a bit tighter. As soon as the balls touched the fabric—due to the tautness—the balls bounced back up again.

Noticing that Orochi's Fin was successfully popping their balls, they decided to stretch their fabric even tighter.

 _Rip!_

"Oh, no! Hound Holy just ripped their fabric and lost all their balls! Orochi's Fin wins! Great job! That was a close one!" said the announcer. "All right, everyone! That's it for today. The next round of competitions will resume tomorrow afternoon. See you all then!"

"Well, that was fun," said Natsu as he stood up from his seat. "Gray? I'm gonna go take a leak, okay? I'll be in the bathroom." Natsu gave Gray a discrete peck on the cheek before he left.

Natsu reached the public restroom and stepped inside. No one was in there, so he did his duty and washed his hands. When he was finished, he jumped when he heard a soft click. He hadn't even heard anyone come in.

Spinning toward the sound, Natsu's eyes widened in surprise and he took a step back. There, standing before him, was Zeref, the Black Wizard himself. He had the same glazed expression in his eyes as the Southern Wolves member had, he noticed. But that expression soon changed to one of…longing?

However, recognition sparked in Natsu's eyes as lost memories came flooding back. _Nii-sama?_

Zeref quickly approached him, grabbing him by the shoulders and slamming him against the wall. "Natsu," he said. "My precious Natsu. Why did you leave me?" he demanded, throwing Natsu onto the floor abruptly.

As soon as the dragon-slayer hit the floor, he tried to scramble away from Zeref, but to no avail. Zeref grabbed him by the ankles and yanked him back. Before Natsu knew what was happening, Zeref had moved on top of him, pinning his wrists above his head.

"Why did you leave me all alone?!" Zeref demanded.

Natsu's eyes widened when Zeref's magic started to flare. This was bad. He'd need to use magic, but he didn't want to hurt Zeref.

* * *

 _He sure is taking a long time. Does it really take that long to take a piss?_ Gray thought, growing slightly worried because Natsu had been gone for fifteen minutes already.

"Gray!" shouted Wendy, running over to the ice mage, panting heavily. "I think Natsu's in trouble! We need to find him now!"

"What do you mean he's in trouble?" exclaimed Gray, feeling his heart momentarily stop.

"I saw someone who was acting like that Southern Wolves member. And I feel like he's after Natsu!"

Gray beckoned for Wendy to follow him. "What kind of trouble do you think he's in?" Gray asked anxiously.

"I don't know, but it's not good. Do you know where he is?"

"He said he was going to the bathroom," Gray claimed, in pursuit of Natsu.

* * *

"Let me go, Zeref! Your magic's getting out of control!" Natsu yelled, thrashing as he tried to get his wrists from Zeref's deathly grip. He flared his own magic to match Zeref's to keep it at bay.

"Shut up!" he snapped, slapping Natsu hard across the face with his free hand, stunning him momentarily. "Just shut up!"

"Zeref," Natsu said as he watched a tear cascade down the Black Wizard's cheek.

"Natsu," Zeref replied, stroking Natsu's smooth cheek with his calloused hand. "Why would I let you go when I've only just found you again? You left me all alone. I've been so alone."

"I didn't leave you! How could I have left you all alone? You left me!" he cried, trying to kick Zeref away from him.

"I…left you?" Zeref's eyes flickered before becoming vacant again. "No. You left me," he said conclusively. "And I am going to make sure you don't leave me again."

* * *

"It has to be this one. We checked all the others," Wendy stated as they reached the final bathroom. Gray beat her there, tugging on the door.

It was locked.

He banged on the door. "Natsu! Are you in there?"

"Gray?!"

"Shut up!" bellowed someone from inside the bathroom. Gray grew furious when he heard Natsu being slapped. He stepped back blasted his magic at the door, trying to bust it open.

No such luck.

"That's not going to work, Gray. The door's imbued with powerful magic. We need to find someone to disenchant it!"

Gray glared at the door. "Then go get someone!" he roared at Wendy, sending her scurrying off. _Hold on, Natsu. Just hold on._

* * *

 _Gray's here, but he can't get in!_ Natsu thought frantically as he squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to hurt Zeref, but he didn't have a choice.

"Are you ready to join me, Natsu? In death?" Zeref asked.

Natsu felt his heart stop. _Death? No! He wanted to live!_ He struggled against Zeref once more, this time using his magic.

* * *

"Stop!" Gray heard Natsu yell.

"Natsu! Damn it!" he roared again, slamming his magic against the door again. _Where the hell is Wendy?_

Suddenly, Gray felt a hand stop him as he was about to blast ice magic at the door again.

"We'll get it open," said Sting, moving a very stunned Gray Fullbuster away from the door. He noticed that Sting had Rogue, Gajeel, and Wendy with him.

"We need to get this door open now!" said Gajeel.

* * *

Natsu was exhausted from his struggling. That last burst of magic had rendered Zeref unconscious, and him magically drained. He watched as a purple light—much like with the guild member from Southern Wolves—left his brother's body.

"Nii-sama," Natsu said quietly, "I'm sorry."

 _Bang!_

Natsu jumped when he saw the door to the bathroom hit the wall. Standing in the doorway were Gray and Sting. Both of them had looks of absolute fury on their faces.

Gray made to charge at unconscious body on the ground, but Sting beat him to it. He bolted past Gray and lifted Zeref off the ground. His head lolled to the side. Just as he was about to punch the unconscious man, Natsu's voice stopped him.

"Don't," said Natsu as Gray quickly ran over to him.

"Natsu. Are you okay? What hap—?"

"What? Why can't I hit him?" demanded Sting. "He tried to hurt you didn't he?"

"I can handle myself just fine, thank you very much," snapped Natsu. "Leave him be." The fire mage stumbled to his feet, wobbling a bit. Gray wrapped his arms around Natsu's body tightly, as if he were afraid to let him go, and kissing him on the top of his head.

"But…this is Zeref we're talking about," continued Sting. "The Black Wizard?"

"I know," said Natsu, pushing himself out of Gray's arms. "And I said to let him be. Don't make me repeat myself again." The fire mage proceeded to take Zeref from Sting. He draped one arm of the unconscious mage over his shoulders and carried his toward the door. "Can someone put his hood back on for me? I don't want anyone else to recognize him."

"If you two are just gonna stand there like idiots, then get lost," said Gajeel as he entered the bathroom, followed by Rogue and Wendy. The iron-dragon slayer drew up Zeref's hood. "Where do ya wanna take him?"

"The guild," Natsu said finally. "But we need to stay out of sight."

"Leave that to me," said Rogue.

"Natsu," Gray said finally. "What the hell is going on?"

The fire dragon-slayer sighed. "I'll tell you when we're back at the guild. I don't want to talk here."

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

 _ **Fairy Tail Infirmary**_

Gray and Natsu sat in the infirmary in silence, Zeref—the Black Wizard—resting in the infirmary bed.

"You want me to treat the Black Wizard Zeref?" Porlyusica started, breaking the silence.

"Yes?" responded Natsu, eying the healer hesitantly. He was taking a big risk bringing Zeref to Fairy Tail.

"Yes," she echoed. "Do you have any idea what you are asking me to do?"

"Can you just…please check him over?" asked Natsu. "Then you can leave and I won't call for you again."

"Does Makarov know?"

"Not…yet."

"Hmph," she responded, looking defeated. She did a quick examination before she spoke again. "He seems, for the most part, fine. Whatever happened to him seemed to drain his magical power. It will take some time before he's fully recovered."

"When will he wake up?" asked Natsu.

Porlyusica looked thoughtful for a moment. "Why does the wellbeing of this… _person_ concern you so much?"

Natsu averted his eyes.

"Either way, I'd say he'll wake in a day or two. A lot of dark magic was at work here. May I take my leave now?"

At Natsu's nod, Porlyusica left them.

"I don't understand," started Gray. "You can't seriously expect us to harbor Zeref in Fairy Tail, can you? We should hand him over to the Magic Council."

"I can't do that," said Natsu.

"He tried to kill you!"

"It wasn't him who was doing it!" the dragon-slayer snapped. "It was Ankhseram again. After I attacked Zeref with my magic, I saw that same purple light leave his body."

They both just sat there in silence, lost in their own thoughts for awhile. Gray sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned back. He looked at Natsu. "What're we going to do?" Gray asked softly.

"I don't know," replied Natsu.

 _Knock, knock!_

The dragon-slayer turned his head to see Rogue peeking inside. "Your master wants to speak with us."

Natsu inwardly groaned. "Here we go."

* * *

"WHAT WERE YOU BRATS THINKING?!" roared Makarov.

"I can explain," started Natsu.

"I don't want to hear a _word_ out of you yet," said Makarov before turning his attention to Sting and Rogue. "You two participated in the destruction of the Magnolia Stadium, and a bathroom no less! Sabertooth will assist Fairy Tail in paying for damages since both are at fault."

Sting and Rogue nodded in understanding.

"I'm not finished yet," he continued. "The Magic Council is concerned that such a young Guild Master is detrimental to Fiore. As such, they've deemed it fit that I oversee Sabertooth for the time being until the Magic Council decides whether or not to replace you, Sting. This means you must have my permission to do _anything_ at all related to your guild. Is this understood?"

"Yes, Master Makarov," replied Sting.

"Natsu!" snapped Makarov. "Would you care to tell me _why_ you thought it appropriate to bring Zeref—the Black Wizard—into our home?! A place for our family's safety and wellbeing? You put everyone in danger by bringing him here!"

"It's not his fault," cut in Gray, trying to support the dragon-slayer.

"Silence!" he interrupted. "We will be handing Zeref over to the Magic Council."

"You can't!" shouted Natsu.

"He shouldn't be here. Not in our hands. There is too much risk."

"Makarov." Everyone's heads turned at the new voice save Sting and Rogue.

"First Master," gasped Makarov. "What brings you here?"

Mavis smiled and stood beside Natsu. "I think you should trust Natsu. He obviously brought Zeref here for a reason. Won't you at least hear him out?"

Makarov sighed and looked back at the fire dragon-slayer. In a much calmer voice, he asked, "Why did you bring Zeref here?"

Nastu took a deep breath. It was now or never. "Something…wants me dead."

Makarov's mind sobered up at that. Who would want to harm one of his children?

"He's…followed me ever since you found me on July 7, X777."

"Who, Natsu?" asked Makarov.

"Ankhseram, the God of Life and Death," the fire mage replied. "He's always…haunted me…hurt me. But the last few months have been the worst. I was finally able to get away just as the Grand Magic Games began, but at the cost of my and Happy's home. I think I hurt him when I burned our house down somehow.

"Lately, though, I've been having brief flashes of memory from before my time with Igneel. I don't remember everything. I think the Dragon Ceremony I underwent with the other dragon-slayers made my mind fuzzy. I can only hold onto certain memories. Some are clearer than others.

"During the Grand Magic Games today, I think Ankhseram was trying to possess people. I think he was trying to test what he could do to see if he could manipulate people into doing his will. He feeds off of negative emotions. It gives him power and strength. He possessed the person who tried to strangle Kagura, and he possessed Zeref. I think he was trying to make Zeref…kill me."

Makarov frowned in thought. Why would Ankhseram, the God of Life and Death obsess over Natsu in such a way? "I'm afraid I still don't understand why you saw fit to bring Zeref here. He is the Black Wizard, a creator of demons who have killed thousands over the centuries. Why would you bring someone like that into our home whether he was possessed by another or not?"

Gray looked at Natsu. He wanted an answer to this question as well, but the fire mage had shrugged him off every chance he could. The dragon-slayer wouldn't be able to avoid it any longer.

"Zeref," Natsu began, however, he hesitated as if fearing the worst. "Zeref is…I brought Zeref here because…he's my older brother." There. It was out in the open now.

"He's…what?" asked Gray.

Makarov silently thanked him for asking the question. He was too stunned to reply.

"Zeref is my older brother," Natsu repeated, this time, a little more firmly.

Mavis looked at him curiously. "What makes you say that?" she asked.

"I'm…not sure," the fire mage replied, clearly frustrated. "I just know that he is…somehow. Whenever something sparks in my mind, it's like it fades out before I can grasp onto it."

"Hm," started Makarov. "Does this happen with the rest of you? The dragon-slayers, I mean?"

Both Rogue and Sting nodded. "Like Natsu said, everything's kind of fuzzy. Our memories have been like that since July 7, X777. That goes for Gajeel and Wendy, too," answered Sting.

"Makarov?"

"Yes, First Master?" said mage responded, still trying to overcome the information he'd suddenly been burdened with.

"Is it possible for Porlyusica to recover the lost memories of the dragon-slayers?" Mavis inquired.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," cut in Natsu. "She's already mad at me for having her look over Zeref."

"I'll speak with Porlyusica," said Makarov. "In the meantime, Zeref will be restrained by Magic Seal Stone cuffs. I will have Freed take precautionary measures by placing runes around Zeref's infirmary room."

"Isn't that a little much?" Natsu questioned softly.

"Personally, I don't believe it's enough," replied Makarov. "We are at risk with Zeref being here. I will hold off taking him to the Magic Council for now until we sort all this out. However, we will still have to worry about his ultimate discovery."

"But it's not like anyone knows what he looks like," said Natsu. "Other than us, that is. No one's gonna know unless we actually say we have Zeref here."

"He does have a point Makarov," added Mavis. "If we take the proper precautions, I don't see why we can't keep Zeref here."

"We could call him something else for now," offered Gray.

"Fuyu," said Natsu. "We'll refer to him as Fuyu."

Makarov took a deep breath and sighed. He was getting too old for this. "Fine. But I will need to know which members of Fairy Tail know that _that_ is Zeref so that they can be filled in on our current situation."

"Everyone else will be told that his name is Fuyu," added Mavis, "and that he is Natsu's long lost brother who wants to join Fairy Tail. Let's give him a guild mark."

Makarov sputtered in indignation. Give the Black Wizard Fairy Tail's guild mark? What on earth was the First Master thinking? However, he felt the need to trust her. "Fine. Have it your way. Now someone get Porlyusica. We need to discuss the complications that resulted from the Dragon Ceremony."

* * *

Natsu waited for nearly an hour before he was allowed to see Zeref again. The fire mage sat next to his brother's bed, staring at the Magic Seal Stone cuffs around his wrists in annoyance. There was no need for that, but he'd abide by what Makarov said for now. If anything, the runes were enough.

The dragon-slayer brushed a strand of hair out of Zeref's face. "We can't call you Zeref for the time being. I settled on Fuyu, so that's what we're calling you for the time being. I thought it was fitting."

He paused when no reaction came from Zeref.

"Please wake up soon. I want to talk to you," he continued. "I want to understand what's happening, and I think you'll be able to give me the answers I need…nii-sama."

"How is he?" said Gray, sitting next to Natsu.

"The same," replied the fire mage, but something started plaguing his mind. "You're taking this awfully well."

"Are you surprised by that?"

"I am, actually," said Natsu, turning his attention to the ice mage. "Zeref created the demon that killed your family, and here you are supporting me. I thought you'd be…angrier."

"I admit that this is difficult for me. I know he's the one that caused so much devastation in my life. But I keep thinking about whether there's some greater force that's really behind it all. I want to trust you. I do trust your judgment, and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm not saying this isn't going to cause some ripples in our relationship, but this is a heavy responsibility. I will make an effort to fulfill it to the best of my ability. Natsu, I will venture to the very edge of danger, especially it if will make you happy. Even if Zeref is the true cause behind all of my past traumas, it brought me to you. And I'm grateful for that because I love you more than you'll ever know."

"Thank you, Gray," replied Natsu, resting his head on the ice mage's shoulder. "I love you, too. I don't know what I'd do without you right now."

"That makes two of us," said Gray. "Let's go home. There isn't much we can do here now."

"Okay."

* * *

 _ **Gray's Bedroom (Early Morning)**_

Gray sighed, stretching fully before collapsing back onto the bed. Turning onto his stomach, he pressed his face into the empty pillow next to him.

Empty?

He shot up from the bed, the sheets pooling around his waist, and looked quickly around the room. Natsu was nowhere in sight. He was just about to leave the room when he saw the door to his balcony open. Curious, Gray moved toward the door and peeked outside.

Natsu was sitting on a chair, a warm blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His knees were pulled up to his chin and he seemed to be staring off into space.

"Natsu?"

The dragon-slayer's head snapped in the direction of Gray's deep voice, but he rapidly turned away again, as if he were trying to avoid him.

This was _not_ the reaction Gray had been expecting. Immediately taking initiative, he went up to Natsu and sat on the ground in front of him, his eyes panning over the fire mage as if searching for the answer to Natsu's sudden discomfort.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" Gray asked concernedly, placing his hands on Natsu's hips and massaging him gently, trying to coax him into relaxing.

"Nothing's wrong," Natsu responded distantly, shrugging off Gray. "I just want to be alone right now."

He wanted to be alone? Why?

Gray, not used to being brushed off so easily, wrapped his arms around Natsu's waist and pulled him toward him. After a little bit of struggling, Natsu consented and allowed the ice mage to pull him down from the chair and into his lap.

"Now tell me what's wrong. Talk to me," Gray said firmly, a rigid frown on his handsome features.

"I just want time alone…to think…" he mumbled, irritation evident in his voice.

Gray sighed, his patience wearing quite thin. "Think about what?" When he remained silent, Gray turned Natsu to face him. "Will you _please_ talk to me? I have no idea what's bothering you. Is it Zeref?"

Natsu lowered his eyes and buried his face in the crook of Gray's neck, embracing the momentarily stunned ice mage tightly.

When he started to feel Natsu sigh, he pulled Natsu closer to him. "Natsu? What is it? After everything we've been through, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

"Of course, I know that," Natsu replied, though it sounded quite muffled. He pulled away and looked into Gray's startling blue eyes. "I need you to promise me something, Gray," Natsu demanded seriously.

Dumbfounded, Gray replied, "Sure. Anything."

"I'm serious, Gray. I need you to sincerely promise me." When Gray nodded again, Natsu continued. "If…anything should happen to me, I want you to look after the guild."

"What the hell? What do you mean if anything should happen to you?" Gray shouted, pulling Natsu closer to him in a means to protect him from whatever threat might be out there. Where the hell had this thought come from so suddenly?

"Gray. Don't make this any harder than it has to be. Just promise me. Promise me," Natsu pleaded.

"No! Not until you tell me why the hell you're suddenly thinking this way!"

Natsu averted his eyes before he spoke again. "Something bad is coming. I can feel it. And I don't know if I can stop it."

"Natsu," Gray started, his voice strained, "no one is asking you to do anything! You don't _have_ to do anything! You have so many other people to rely on. Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?"

"I heard a voice again…early this morning. I think something might happen soon. I don't know."

Gray was momentarily rendered speechless. Another voice? "Did the voice sound threatening or-"

"How the hell are you supposed to tell if something is threatening when it's a _disembodied_ voice, Gray? Huh? Tell me! Because I sure as hell would like to know the answer!" Natsu bellowed, pushing Gray away from him.

"I don't know!" Gray roared back. "But," he continued more quietly, "if something does happen, we'll face it together. You're not charging into the battlefield without me, especially if you're unsure about what's really going on. We can't let one little voice get in the way of us living our lives, Natsu."

Natsu hadn't thought of it like that. How much power did the voice really have? He had been practically asleep when he heard it. Maybe he'd dreamt it or something. But if he did, why did he feel like something bad was going to happen? Was it really just all in his head?

* * *

 **End Chapter**


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer – I do not own Fairy Tail

* * *

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

"Let's go on a date," Gray said suddenly.

"Huh?" Natsu snapped out of watching the sun rise at the sound of the ice mage's voice. "Like now?"

"We haven't been on one yet. And we don't have to worry about the Grand Magic Games until tomorrow."

"How come?"

"Well, because of yesterday's _events_ ," continued Gray, referring to someone nearly being strangled to death and the destroyed bathroom, "more precautions are being made."

"Oh," replied the fire mage. "Did you have something in mind for our…date?"

Gray paused.

"You don't, do you?"

"Not…really."

To this, Natsu laughed. "I'll take care of the first date. I have an idea, but I kind of want it to be a surprise. Do you mind hanging out with Happy for the day so I can get things ready?"

"I can do that," said Gray.

"Good. I'll see you tonight," Natsu replied as he stood up and walked back into the bedroom.

"Tonight?! What the hell am I supposed to do with Happy for that long?!"

* * *

Gray was utterly exhausted as he entered the apartment. That was the last time he'd ever offer to look after Happy, Lector, _and_ Frosch. Whose bright idea was it to put sugar in chocolate anyway?

"Ugh," Gray mumbled. He was dead tired and would probably sleep through the entire night. But thank goodness the sugar from all that chocolate had worn off on those Exceeds.

Heading for the bedroom, Gray stretched as he opened the door. Now it was time to get ready for his date. He wondered what they would be doing. The fact Natsu needed a whole day to prepare was still bugging him.

He was brought out of his thoughts quite harshly when he saw Natsu, who only had a towel around his waist. Natsu didn't seem to notice Gray at first.

"So what are we doing, Natsu?" Gray asked smoothly.

Natsu practically jumped out of his skin, almost losing his towel in the process. "Gray! Don't do that!" he screeched, smacking Gray in the arm.

"What? This?" he replied, fondling the fire mage's ass through the towel.

"Eek! Gray! Stop it! Go take a shower! And make sure to put something _nice_ on. And _keep_ it on," Natsu exclaimed, hastily removing himself from the ice mage's grasp.

Gray frowned at the loss of contact. "Fine. We have a date _there_ later. Now, what do you mean by dress nice? Would a dress shirt and jeans suffice?"

"Yeah," Natsu stuttered, still unsure about what Gray meant by having a date _there_ later, but he had an idea. And he was pretty sure it had something to do with the ice mage and something very inappropriate.

"Okay. I'll just go take a shower. Where are we-"

"Just follow the trail," Natsu said quickly, shoving Gray into the bathroom and slamming the door shut, a bright blush staining his cheeks.

Gray laughed to himself as he stripped down and stepped into the shower. As he turned on the cold water, he sighed as the chill seemed to wash away the stress and exhaustion from the day. He hoped that whatever they would be doing would be nice and relaxing.

Finishing his shower, he wrapped a towel around his waist and went back into his room and over toward the closet. Seeing that Natsu was nowhere in sight, he assumed he was busy making preparations for their date.

He took out a pair of dark jeans and a blue silk shirt. Putting on his clothes, he pulled on his boots and walked over to his dresser. He dabbed a little bit of cologne on his neck, ruffled his hair a time or two, and made for the door.

Now to find natsu. What did he say? Follow the trail? What was that supposed to mean?

Opening the door, he went out into the hallway, only to pause briefly. On the floor was a trail of red and white rose petals.

Chuckling, Gray followed the wonderfully scented trail down the hall, across the living and to the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony. Sliding the doors open, his eyes met a truly spectacular sight.

Natsu had set up a canopy outside and filled it with flickering candles and twinkling white lights. They accentuated the clear night sky beautifully. Soft music was playing in the background and there was a small table with two chairs underneath the sparkling canopy. The table had a long candle in the center and a wonderfully prepared meal.

Gray couldn't help but feel an overwhelming surge of love for the fire mage. "This is amazing," he said softly as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist.

"I thought you might like it," Natsu replied, moving in front of Gray so they could share a deep, passionate kiss. "Now, let's eat before our dinner gets cold."

Taking Gray by the hand, he led the ice mage to the table. "So what are we having?" asked Gray as they seated themselves.

"We're having Cognac Sauced Pepper Steaks and a Caramelized Onion Dressed Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts. You better like it. I spent a lot of time preparing this meal for you."

"Then it must be good." Gray smiled as he took a bite of the steak. Flavors burst inside his mouth. How could food taste so good? "Natsu, this is delicious."

The dragon-slayer laughed. "I'm glad. Just make sure to save room for dessert."

"What kind of dessert?" Gray hinted with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"The food kind," Natsu answered, blushing furiously again. Was he ever going to stop blushing whenever Gray made those kinds of comments?

They ate their romantic dinner in peace, and then Natsu brought out the dessert. "Here, we have Magnolia Coffee and Fudge Sundaes. I hope you'll enjoy it Gray, especially when I feed it to you."

"You're feeding me now?" Gray asked, surprised.

"Yes." Natsu took a spoonful of brownie and coffee ice cream with fudge sauce and brought it to Gray's mouth.

Gray moaned in delight as his taste buds were assaulted by the rich flavor. "I love your cooking," he sighed contentedly. Natsu laughed as he continued to feed Gray his dessert.

When he'd finished, Gray realized that Natsu hadn't had any of the magnificent dessert he'd just devoured. "Hey, Natsu? Didn't you want any?"

"Yes, but there was an ingredient missing at the time."

"Huh? What's that?"

"You," Natsu replied huskily as he moved away from his seat and straddled the ice mage's lap. "There's more than one way to have dessert, you know." And he swooped down and kissed Gray like there was no tomorrow.

Natsu's tongue was eagerly pushing past his lips so it could make its way into his ready mouth. Soon, their tongues were engaged in a fierce battle, one where Gray made it out victorious.

"I think I like having dessert this way. You make it taste so much better," panted Gray before he ravaged Natsu's mouth once more.

When they broke apart for air, Natsu gradually wrapped his arms around Gray's neck and pressed their foreheads together. "Hey, Gray?"

"Hm?"

"Will you dance with me?"

Gray nuzzled his neck a bit before answering. "Anything for you." He helped Natsu off his lap and led him further under the twinkling canopy where they danced to the soft music of the night.

Feeling tired, Natsu took Gray's hand and started to lead the ice mage to another spot on the balcony. "I have another surprise for you," whispered Natsu. The fire mage led him to a blanket covered in rose petals on the ground. "We're gonna lie together and look up at the stars until we fall asleep. I don't think I have the energy to do anything else right now."

"That's perfectly fine, Natsu. I'd love to snuggle with you under the stars," Gray replied.

They lay down together on the blanket and stared up at the stars, cuddling into each other's arms.

"I love you, Gray," Natsu said drowsily as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

"I love you, too, Natsu. And thank you for such a wonderful evening," he replied, kissing Natsu on the nose.

And they both fell fast asleep.

* * *

 _ **Magnolia Stadium (Arena)**_

"Welcome back to the Magnolia Stadium!" said the announcer. "It's time to activate the archive once again! We will be having two competitions today which means four more guilds will be selected!"

"GUILD NUMBER THIRTEEN...BLUE PEGASUS…." said the database.

"It seems Blue Pegasus is up next!" yelled the announcer.

"GUILD NUMBER FOURTEEN….RED HOOD…COMPETITION THREE-LEGGED RACE."

"All right! So our first competition of the day will be Blue Pegasus versus Red Hood in the Three-Legged Race. Let's give a round of applause for our competitors!"

"GUILD NUMBER FIFTEEN….FAIRY TAIL. GUILD NUMBER SIXTEEN….DEATH'S HEAD CAUCUS…COMPETITION…FISHING HOLE."

"Wonderful! Our second competition of the day will be Fairy Tail versus Death Head's Caucus in the competition Fishing Hole! Let's give them all a hand!"

* * *

 _ **Blue Pegasus vs. Red Hood – Three-Legged Race**_

"And now let's have our first two guilds step up to the plate," called the announcer. "We have Blue Pegasus versus Red Hood in the Three-Legged Race! Let's have King Fiore explain the rules for the game!"

"For the Three-Legged Race, each guild will select two members. A magical ribbon will be tied around your legs, meaning you cannot separate until someone wins the competition. You will run to the end of the arena, go around the barrel of water placed there, and run back to the starting line.

"The first pair to make it back in one piece wins this competition. Magic will be allowed," finished King Fiore.

"I want in!" shouted Jenny. "And you're coming with me! I will not be defeated by Mira today."

"She's not even competing in this round!" exclaimed Hibiki when Jenny grabbed him by his collar and dragged him to the starting line.

After someone finished tying the ribbon around their legs, Hibiki chanced a glance at the Red Hood members they were competing against. They didn't look like much, and he wasn't sensing much magical power coming from them. They had this in the bag.

Placing their arms around each other's waists, they waited for the signal.

"On your mark! Get set! Go!" shouted the announcer.

Jenny and Hibiki bolted, running in time with one another. A grin lit up on the female mage's face when the Red Hood members immediately tripped and came crashing to the ground.

"This is easy," she said.

"We're almost at the barrel," said Hibiki. This was easy. Maybe a bit _too_ easy.

Just as they rounded the water barrel, Jenny suddenly felt drops of water drip onto her dress. The crowd screamed.

Hibiki and Jenny paused, turning to look behind them. Emerging itself from the water barrel was…

"A hydra?!" Jenny shrieked as she jumped backward. However, she forgot about the ribbon keeping her tied to Hibiki. This only caused them to fall backward onto the ground, the hydra leaning toward them, jaws open. "Do something, Hibiki!"

"Working on it," he ground out, his fingers whizzing across his archive magic.

"Hibiki! It's getting closer!"

"I got it!" he said.

"What do we do?" Jenny started, but then she screamed when Hibiki lifted her awkwardly. "What're you doing?!"

"Running!" he shouted. "It's tied to the water, so it only has so much range!"

Sure enough, the archive mage was correct. Even though the individual heads of the hydra snapped at them from all sides, once they'd reach halfway back down the arena, the beast couldn't reach them.

But it did reach Red Hood. Seriously, how could they not see the multi-headed creature before them?

"And our winner is Blue Pegasus! Let's give them a round of applause as we prepare for the next and final competition of the day!"

* * *

 _ **Fairy Tail vs. Death's Head Caucus – Fishing Hole**_

"Now we have Fairy Tail versus Death's Head Caucus in the Fishing Hole competition! King Fiore has a few words," stated the announcer.

"For the Fishing Hole competition, each guild will select two members to participate. There will be a small pond for each guild. You will have thirty minutes. The guild that catches and eats the most fish within that time will win. Magic is acceptable."

Makarov grinned. Turning to his children, he said, "I have a plan that will guarantee our victory."

"And it looks like our teams have been selected," said the announcer.

"What?!" Makarov exclaimed, jaw dropping. He whipped around only to see Happy and Juvia in the arena waving at the audience.

"Juvia will catch the fish," said the water mage.

"And Happy will eat them," Happy said with an evil grin as his mouth drooled.

"All right," the announcer started. "We have thirty minutes on the clock! Let the game begin!"

Juvia started immediately. She raised water from the small pond and dropped a large load of fish in front of Happy.

Happy eagerly grabbed one of the fish and bit into it.

"He's going to eat it like that?" cried a member of Death's Head Caucus.

Suddenly, tears came to Happy's eyes. "Ack!"

"Now, ladies and gentlemen. Let's have a little story about these fish," said the announcer. "These are called Swimming Fish. Yes, the name is unoriginal, but they are closely related to everyone's favorite delicacy the Flying Fish."

Silence resounded throughout the arena. The Flying Fish? A delicacy? It was the most disgusting fish in Fiore.

"Come on, Happy! You can do it!" shouted Natsu.

"Yeah, Happy! Let's go!"

"Win this for Fairy Tail!"

Happy continued nibbling at the fish, tears streaming down his face. "It's so disgusting!"

"Heh! That cat can't do it," said a member from Death's Head Caucus as he grabbed a fish. He used his magic to cook it then took a bite. And immediately gagged. "This is horrible!"

Death's Head Caucus and Fairy Tail continued eating their fish at a painstakingly slow rate.

"We have one minute left on the clock," said the announcer. "And neither guild has finished eating a fish."

"Come on, Happy-san. Just a few more bites," encouraged Juvia. "Juvia thinks the other guild is only halfway finished with their fish."

"Aye!" Steeling himself, Happy shoved the rest of the fish in his mouth, chewed quickly, and swallowed.

"Time is up! And it looks like Fairy Tail wins! They ate one fish. Death's Head Caucus ate zero! Congratulations, Fairy Tail!"

"Way to go, Happy!" shouted Gray.

Happy, however, collapsed on the ground in a dead faint.

"Happy!" cried Natsu. "Someone get him to Wendy!"

* * *

 _ **Fairy Tail - Infirmary**_

While Happy was recovering from eating the Swimming Fish in the infirmary, Natsu decided to enter Zeref's room to check on his condition. The fire mage sat next to the bed and stared at his older brother.

"I hope you wake up soon," said Natsu. "I want to speak with you."

"Mn."

Natsu's head shot up. "Zeref?"

The black mage's eyes blearily opened. As he let his eyes focus in the brightly lit room, his gaze fell on the person staring at him. "Natsu?"

Said mage nodded. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Zeref replied. "Where am I?"

"You're in Fairy Tail's infirmary."

Zeref's eyes widened in fear. "I shouldn't be here. People will be hurt because of me."

"Don't worry," insisted Natsu. "Gramps took precautions."

"Precautions?"

The fire mage nodded. "There are runes around your room, and you're wearing Magic Seal Stone Cuffs. I was against it, but…you know. People were afraid."

Magic Seal Stone Cuffs? Would that really work with his curse?

"We need to refer to you as Fuyu, though," continued Natsu. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"What were you doing in Magnolia?"

"I'm in Magnolia?" Zeref took a few minutes to think. "I saw you…on the lacrima screen. Then everything went…blank."

Natsu sighed. "You tried to kill us. You don't remember that?"

"Us?"

"You and…me."

"I tried to kill you?" said Zeref. He looked absolutely devastated. "I don't want to kill you. You're my…"

"Brother?" Natsu finished for him.

"You…remember?"

"Bits and pieces," said Natsu. "It's still hazy. Most things come to me in dreams. Nightmares, really."

"That might be due to the Dragon Ceremony," added Zeref.

Natsu nodded. "You really don't remember what you did?"

Zeref shook his head.

"I think you were possessed," said Natsu. "By Ankhseram."

"Don't speak his name," snapped Zeref. "He's the reason—"

"You're like this? Yeah. I kinda figured that much out for myself."

"However, Ankhseram should not be able to do such things as possession. He is a god. He is not supposed to interfere with the natural way of things unless someone goes against those natural laws."

Natsu paused. "And that's what you did? You went against the laws of nature? Is that why you're…cursed?"

Zeref nodded sadly.

"What…did you do?"

"A terrible yet great thing," the black mage replied slowly. "I brought my little brother back from the dead." He looked Natsu in the eyes to gauge his response.

Natsu felt as if his brain was shutting down. Brought back from the dead? He was brought back from the dead? "That's why I feel like I shouldn't be here," he mumbled under his breath.

However, Zeref caught his words. "You _should_ be here. It was my fault you weren't, so I did what I thought was right and was cursed for it."

"How did I…die?" asked Natsu painfully.

"I think we should save that story for another time," Zeref answered. "You need to come to terms with what you've learned already."

"But—"

"Please, Natsu," Zeref begged. "I want to rest."

The fire mage knew he wouldn't get anything more from his older brother. "Fine. Can we talk tomorrow then?"

Zeref nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Natsu. Get some sleep. You look like you need it."

Natsu stood and headed toward the door. He looked back briefly before saying, "I'll see you later…Fuyu."

* * *

 **End Chapter**


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